Life Behind A Shadow
by majistrix
Summary: Crossover with Supernatural. Faith has been trying to make a new life for herself working with the Winchesters when fate and a new enemy forces her to go back to the Council in Cleveland and face her fears and her strained relationship with Buffy.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Life Behind a Shadow

Rating: NC-17

Author: majistrix

Summary: Dean or Buffy? Faith will have to decide.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this.

Spoilers: Just assume everything for both BTVS and Supernatural Season 1.

Author's Notes: This is my first fic so be gentle. I'm also taking liberties with the time lines of both shows to make things line up. The story starts after "Not Fade Away" and assumes that John Winchester was already dead at that time.

**Chapter 1**

Dean raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his brow as he climbed over the blackened wreck of what used to be somebody's car. The entire parking garage smelled like sulfur. The interior with its canines of jagged slabs of concrete and the charred remains of automobiles, surfaces still dripping with blood and jutting out ready to tear flesh, looked like the maw of some giant monster. The dark horrible path that he and his brother tread, which only days before had been the ramp to level A5, now lead straight to the monster's gullet and had been vomiting a steady stream of demons at them for a half hour.

There had been no need to sew together a lead from overlooked news reports or for hitting up Sam's LexisNexis account to bring them here, the reports of apocalyptic levels of destruction in LA streamed world-wide.

They took off from Omaha when the first "obviously overwhelmed and exhausted" witness described seeing what looked like horned demons. Sam floored the Impala's accelerator when the radio reported another poor deluded soul who said they saw a dragon. They made the trip in a day. The mass of traffic inching out of the city on the other side of the freeway and a quick lie at a checkpoint to a baby-faced National Guard MP about being undercover federal investigators got them into the heart of LA just like that.

They followed a trail of bodies, or what was left of them, to the parking garage. Sam was reminded of pictures of an obliterated Nagasaki when he saw what was left of the structure and wouldn't have gone in if it weren't for the stench of sulfur that hung around the place like humid air.

Whatever was in the garage immediately reacted to their presence. They fought their way up three levels of broken stairways with a more and more spirits and demons thrown at them as they went like it was some sort of video game.

Dean would have preferred that this was a game because he and Sam, running out of ammo and energy needed to press pause. This standard hunting trip had turned into something more dangerous and Dean wasn't sure they were going to make it.

Bitter at the idea that he was probably going to die in some godforsaken parking garage before he got to celebrate a good day's hunting by hitting some big city bars-even if Sam was cock-blocking him part of the time-a tired Dean smashed the closest demon in the throat with butt of his shotgun while out of the corner of his eye he saw a sluggish Sam almost get eviscerated.

They braced for another wave when the parade of evil suddenly stopped. The men shared a perplexed look and then stumbled forward over more debris until they reached a clear area protected by a semi-circle of smoked out cars.

Sam swept the flashlight over the skeletons of metal and revealed what he thought might be Celtic runes spray-painted on the sides of the cars.

"Hey. Do you recognize this?" Sam asked Dean pointing the light over something that looked like a cross smooshed together with a smiley face.

"Jesus rocks LOL?" Dean answered with a shrug as he walked past Sam and entered the circle of cars.

"Whatever they are they're probably the only thing stopping the flood of demons from attacking us." Sam said as he shone the light ahead of him. Sam continued forward trying to decipher the runes but was interrupted when he heard Dean scream.

Sam raised his gun and sprinted over to where Dean was and found Dean inching his way backward determined to get as far from whatever thing he was staring down at.

"What? What is it?" Sam yelled excited.

Dean wide eyed and shaken pointed frantically at the floor beneath him, "Look!"

Sam shone the flashlight at the ground at Dean's feet. A trail of bloated rotting rats with their throats ripped out leading from where Dean was standing down to where the level's elevators once were.

Sam's face creased in disgust but relaxed as he rolled his eyes seeing that Dean was still squirming.

"Screw you. Don't look at me like that!" Dean said doing an okay job of hiding the fact that he was freaked out.

Sam shook his head moving to Dean's hiding spot, "Dude, you look at stuff that's worse than this every day. Stop being a wuss."

Sam walked over and grabbed Dean by the arm and yanked him forward. Shoving the flashlight in Dean's hand he pushed Dean forward until Dean picked up his pace as he gingerly stepped through minefield of rotting rats.

They followed the trail to a crumpled car. The flashlight caught something hiding behind it, which cast a vaguely human shaped shadow onto the wall behind the vehicle. Between the destruction and the attacks from the demons, they had not encountered any other people in the garage. This thing had to be another demon.

Sharing a nod of agreement, about the situation, Dean and Sam split up to surround the hiding demon.

The vampire clearly hadn't had a descent meal in a while. His was emaciated and even in the low light it was easy to see that his grayish skin was sunken in around the eyes. His eyes struggled to fix on the muzzle of the gun Dean trained on him. He didn't even have the energy to flinch at the sound of Sam removing his machete from its hilt.

"Pathetic looking thing isn't it?" Dean taunted, his blood still rushing from being so close to dying and more than happy to find something to take his frustrations out on even if it was something that looked like someone's neglected dog.

Sam warily moved closer to the thing. Weakened or not, vampires were still faster and stronger than any human could hope to be and his nightmares retained the visions of too many victims of vampire attacks, ripped apart and unrecognizable, to take this thing lightly. Sam examined the area around the vampire and spotted more of the runes spray painted around where he was laying.

"He's probably the one who put the protection up around this place." Sam declared.

"Which means he's probably the one lobbing all those fucking demons at us." Dean replied sneering. Dean surveyed the feeble mass at his feet. Unsure if the weakness the vampire displayed was some sort of ruse-they'd seen it before-Dean took out his holy water and sprayed a little of it on the vampire in hopes of pissing it off enough for it to act.

He didn't move. Instead the vampire continued to lie there helpless. He moaned a little and writhed as the liquid burned him, the vampire's leather coat moving aside to reveal an infected wound in its side.

"Damn, that's gotta hurt. No wonder he hasn't tried to rip your head off yet." Dean teased even though the pestilent wound made his already unsettled stomach roll a little more.

"What?" Sam asked.

"You know. Animals always hunt the slower and weaker ones first." Dean said, moving over to Sam's side. Dean, mischievous, smirked and elbowed his brother, just in case the insult didn't hit its mark.

"Dude, for the last time, there was ice on the sidewalk. That's why I slipped. I didn't need a save from you anyway." Sam insisted, wincing at the "aggrieved little brother" squeak in his voice.

Dean ignored him. He tossed Sam the flashlight and replaced the rock salt in his shotgun with 12 gauge shells.

"Don't take it personally Sammy." Dean chuckled lining up the sight of the gun for the shot that would best take off Angel's head. "We do the same thing if we have the chance."

Dean pulled the trigger.

When Sam tells the story, he insists that there was no noise, which Dean always says was impossible considering all the crap strewn across the floor and that Sam should have known somebody was coming.

When Dean tells the story, he makes sure to show whoever is in the room the winding scar around his trigger finger, which was broken and damn near torn off from the force of something yanking him and the sawed off upward as he fired. After that Sam usually calls Dean a whiner and makes jokes about Dean hurting his jerking off hand.

When Faith tells it, she simply says that she kicked both their asses like bitches they are and downs the rest of her beer. Neither of the men argues with that.

Faith hit Dean so hard that Dean and his shotgun were thrown twenty feet before smashing into a concrete pillar knocking him out.

Sam, surprised, was slow to fire a shot at the woman. Dropping the flashlight he fired at Faith who was a just a dark fleeting blur in Sam's sight. Moving Slayer quick, she easily dodged the blast, her momentum carrying her to a safe position behind one of the cars.

Faith waited until she heard Sam reloading before popping out from her hiding place. Sam fired over and over again, as Faith outran the barrage of bullets from Sam's gun. This time though she ran to where Dean's gun had dropped. Not even flinching as Sam's bullets flew at her; she snatched the shotgun off the ground and continued her sprint to another hiding place.

It got quiet as the echo of gunfire finally ended. Sam's adrenaline flared, accelerated by his weariness and worry for Dean. The hammering of his heartbeat drowned out the silence. Sam kept the gun trained on where Faith was hiding as he crept over to his fallen brother.

"I don't want to hurt you," Faith called out. "Put the gun down."

"Screw you. You're going to die vampire." Sam yelled.

Sam's irritation reached new heights as he heard smoky laughter burst out from the woman.

"You need to put it down." Faith ordered. "Can you even see me?" Faith asked smirking as she slowly rose up from where she was hiding.

"Don't need to." Sam answered hoping that she was stupid enough to keep talking to make up for what he couldn't see.

Faith smiled understanding what Sam was implying. Keeping her mouth shut she silently moved behind him. When she was close enough she grabbed Sam from behind, immobilizing the arm with the gun and pushing the muzzle of Dean's shotgun into the Sam's back.

Sam grimaced as Faith twisted his wrist.

"Easy. Don't get excited." Faith said in as soothing a tone as a person could have while pointing a loaded gun at someone. "Just let me have it."

"Okay." Sam said as he relaxed his body and feigned surrender. Not as quick as a slayer but pretty damn good, Sam maintained his grip on the gun and twisted his body away from the woman.

He didn't need to see her now. She was less than two feet from him and he had been in enough fights in close conditions to know exactly how to position him to get off a good shot. The only confirmation he needed was the sound of the gun and at this angle he might not get a kill shot but no vampire was going

to be walking around with a hole in their chest.

At the end of his spin Sam raised the gun and fired a shot.

Only there was no reassuring gun blast because the gun didn't go off, he'd run out of bullets shooting at her before. Desperate he tried using his powers to hurl a chunk of debris at her but once again his powers deserted him.

In a second, Sam's heart went from the anxious beat of fearing for his and his brother's life to the steady leaden beat of the condemned as he and Faith both stood surprised at the outcome and both looking at the gun that was still in Faith's hand.

Faith quickly shifted from shock to an irritated anger as much at herself as at him in letting him get the jump on her. She stalked forward tossing the gun and grabbed the man immobilizing him.

Sam was so scared couldn't look at the woman. He knew this was the end and though he'd seen enough spirits and tortured souls to have no illusions about what might await him he still silently wished that he would end up somewhere better than this. His mother, Jess, Dad and maybe even Dean were already gone, would it be too much to ask after all the pain of losing them that he could be with one of them in the end?

Faith freed one of his arms and delicately gripping his wrist she drew a hand close to her. "You a hunter?" she asked him.

The show of gentleness coupled with the fact that she was crushing his ribs overwhelmed his fear clouded mind. He could only manage a feeble almost nod as an answer.

Faith gave him a skeptical smirk, "Don't look like it." She titled her head and caught a glimpse of Angel's prone form behind them. Her smirk was swiftly replaced with a scowl, "Handy with that gun though." Faith squeezed Sam harder, making him gasp.

The last thing Sam saw before Faith viciously head-butted him into unconsciousness was the growing pool of blood under Dean's head.

* * *

The first thing Sam saw, when he woke up, was a flashing neon sign saying "Joe's Cabana" complete with a flashing neon girl lifting up her top over and over again. This definitely wasn't heaven.

And it wasn't hell either because he and a very much alive Dean were on the sidewalk in front of Joe's Cabana, Sam laid out and struggling to sit up in defiance of an aching side and head, while Dean was sitting on the curb, head and hand bandaged and looking surprisingly well despite the weird stare he had going on.

Sam won his struggle with verticality and called out to Dean. "Hey. You alright?" Sam asked, his voice raspy from the previous throat crushing, waving his fingers in front of Dean.

But Dean continued to stare ahead ignoring his brother. Sam grimaced as he sat up a little more to see what was enthralling Dean.

Straight ahead of them the lights from the club bounced off of a collection of destroyed buildings, debris, military trucks and ambulances. There was the familiar milling around of paramedics and other emergency responders, but oddly not a cop in sight.

What was much odder was the fact that the wounded people being patched up seemed like they had gotten lost on their way to a birthday party at the local Chucky Cheese. That is if the local Chucky Cheese stayed open until 3am in bad part of town and served pizza with steroids as topping option. Okay, that was a bad analogy, but that was the only way Sam's already confused mind could reconcile the sight of a girl who could not have been any older than 15 holding up a fallen girder so that an EMT could attend to a person who had been trapped underneath.

There were many more kids around all helping to move debris that was much bigger and heavier than they were.

Sam's jaw hit the asphalt and he wondered if the blow to the head had broken something because this was bizarre.

"Dean, are you seeing this?" Sam asked turning to his brother again.

Dean, no longer catatonic, gave a nod and a smirk as he tried to straighten his rumpled blood stained clothing with his unhurt hand.

"It's cool man. Anyway, Faith kind of apologized for us getting jacked up. ", Dean explained.

"Who?" Sam asked.

"The brunette.", Dean said, wiggling his eyebrows in the direction the two women standing almost toe to toe arguing next to one of the ambulances that was off to the side.

The one woman Sam recognized as the woman who he fought in the parking garage. In the last of the day's light he could see that she wasn't pale enough to be a vampire. Judging from her leather pants and tight top she wore he would have thought her to be the wayward little sister-or possibly barely legal girlfriend- of one of the bikers he and Dean sometimes ended up drinking with after a hunt. She was the kind of girl who looked like she could put up a fight, and probably would, if you crossed her. But even with that kind of spunk she shouldn't have been able to clean their clocks as easily as she did.

As for the other woman, well, if the difference between Faith's looks and her abilities was merely puzzling for Sam, the same comparison made about the other girl should have made him so confused his head would explode.

The blonde looked like one of the typical Southern California girls he went to school with. Pretty, pasteled and privileged. Certainly not stupid-we are talking about Stanford after all-but not outwardly fierce. And certainly not as openly aggressive in the way that the other woman was now taking Faith on, standing on tip-toe even just so she could get in Faith's face.

The school girl was making the biker chick back up and the two of them looked like they were a second away from beating the hell out of each other.

"Dude, I'm almost glad I got knocked out." Sam could hear the lechery in Dean's voice. "Come on. Get up. Let's go over there."

Sam tore away from the fighting to find Dean grinning with a leering smile and now standing next to him, which unfortunately put his head level with Dean's crotch where he could see the real reason his brother was so chipper. Sam groaned and shook his head, amazed that even when only a few hours removed from possibly dying Dean still managed to be completely filthy.

"That's sick. She almost freaking killed you." Sam pointed out which Dean answered with a shrug. "Besides", Sam said pointing to the arguing women, "she looks kind of busy at the moment."

"Sam get your mind out of the gutter. I'm just talking about business." Dean replied. "These women are uh…colleagues, yeah colleagues, and we have a responsibility to work with them. "

Dean looked down at his little brother, unaware of how much his smirk just did not match his bruised and bandaged face. "And if Faith decides she wants to make up for giving me a lickin' by giving me a lickin' who am I to stop her?"

"You are unbelievable." Sam countered, wondering if the reason why Dean was doing so well despite the blow to his head was because the blood in his body permanently circulated near Dean's crotch not his brain.

"You fucking bitch!"

"I hate you!"

Dean and Sam both turned in the direction of the yelling to see that the cat fight had now turned into a melee with both Faith and Buffy trading blows.

Out of instinct the men tried to rush over to stop the fight but their injuries reduced their running to a quick hobble. A group of other girls however were able to get to the two women and restrain them.

"What the hell is it now?" another girl asked as she stalked over towards the chaos. She was like Buffy and Faith a little older than the other girls who were there and clearly in charge.

"Willow stabilized him and he's on his way to the coven to get fixed up." Kennedy said clearly exasperated by the feuding women. Turning to Buffy she continued, "It's ugly but it's the best thing for him right now."

Faith nodded at this while Buffy shrugging off the Slayers holding her turned her death glare towards Kennedy for siding with Faith.

"They're evil!" Buffy said her patience completely gone now that she saw that she was double-teamed, "An evil coven. What part of evil don't you understand?"

Kennedy sighed and closed her eyes, using an anger management technique Willow had taught her, as she struggled to keep her cool. The Slayers had been running non-stop since Willow got some feeling of, what Andrew called "a disturbance of the force". The "disturbance" was actually the Senior Partners of Wolfram & Hart descending onto the streets of Los Angeles to exact revenge on Angel and his crew for averting their apocalypse.

The sudden and intense fluctuation in dimensional space had reached Willow over a thousand miles away in Cleveland causing Willow to cry out, her body going completely rigid as the connections between Willow and the healing forces of the earth were instantly pushed to nearly a breaking point to balance the presence of the new evil. At the time Kennedy thought the cause was a quick flick and swirl from the new tongue barbell she'd just gotten the other day.

Boy was she wrong.

From the initial annoyance at being interrupted to the hours of having to listen to Buffy order everyone around and Buffy and Faith fighting she was close to losing it.

So it didn't help that when she did finish her breathing technique the first thing she saw were Sam and Dean, both looking confused, intrigued and more than a little scared by the cat fight. That was it!

"Who the hell are you?" Kennedy growled at the two men, the angry sound of her voice caused everyone else in the fracas to focus on the newcomers.

Dean still in happy horny mode grinned despite the hostility in the woman's voice. "You just got us out of there." Dean said his good hand pointing in the general direction of the collapsed parking garage.

"And?"

"Uh…yeah well…" Dean struggled to find a response. The drugs that the medics had given him were kicking in. That and the fact that he was close enough to Faith to see the fighting and the hot night had made her sweaty and she wasn't wearing a bra.

"We're hunters." Sam said finishing for his brother. Sam turned asked Faith, "What was that in there?"

"Something you don't want to mess with." Faith stated looking at the ring of bruises around Sam's throat. "Sorry about the beat down but you were going to kill my boy."

Sam was confused for a second trying to think of who she could have meant but then remembered the sick vampire he and Dean had come across.

"The vampire?" Sam said incredulously.

Suddenly Sam felt vulnerable again. Sam had had little time to assess his and Dean's situation in the few minutes since he'd regained consciousness. The only facts he had to work with were that he and Dean we in fact alive, the girl he thought was a vampire wasn't and not only that but she and the other folks that were with her seemed more interested in helping the injured. Yeah there was a lot of weird stuff going on too but in the hunting business if you wanted to survive you had to learn weird wasn't always bad and to appreciate good the few times it actually bothered to show up.

Standing next to his injured but patched up brother seemed like something good until Faith said that the dull throb around his neck was for trying to kill something that deserved killing.

If she was choosing vampires over humans what did that make her?

More importantly, how exactly did she and these other girls see Dean and him?

Faith could sense Sam's discomfort. "Look you can think what you want. Don't care. Don't have the time." Faith motioned at a girl standing on the outside of their little circle of conversation to step forward.

The girl came up to Sam and handed him the gear he and his brother had taken into the parking garage.

"There's your stuff." Faith stated, "I don't know how you got in here but this ain't for amateurs. If I were you I'd go home. The soldier boys will take you out of here if you need it."

Faith then turned and looked at Buffy, "Angel's waiting. You comin' B?"

The blonde was still giving the other woman the stink eye but she nodded reluctantly.

Faith and Buffy walked away taking Kennedy and the other girls with them.

Sam stood silent, more confused than ever, standing in the middle of the battered street rifle in hand as he and Dean were alone again.

Dean broke the silence slurring, "Jesus, she's got a great ass man."

Sam could only shake his aching head at that. Grasping his brother's uninjured arm he pulled Dean along, shuffling in the direction of where they left the Impala.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Two years later….

Faith couldn't get her breath.

The view from this part of the mountain was spectacular. Coors Lite was some crappy beer but it wasn't because of poor quality ingredients.

The beautiful sight of the sun-dappled Rockies took up most of the horizon. And damn if there wasn't a beer commercial perfect stream a few yards away.

Faith would have been able to appreciate the late afternoon wooded splendor she was surrounded by if she and Dean hadn't been fighting.

If she hadn't freaked out and told him they could have enjoyed a well deserved day off but instead here she was gasping for breath in the thin Colorado air after running away from Dean.

Again.

She knew he would be along soon. This wasn't one of their normal bad arguments where things got so heated and one of them (nine times out of ten Faith) decided they couldn't take anymore so they took off. A few hours later there was a return, an apology or two, and things got heated again when they made up between the sheets.

You could set your watch by the pattern of their fighting over the last almost year and a half. Hell Sam didn't even bother getting upset on either one of their behalves anymore. He just knew how to keep the one who stayed calm-alcohol worked the best- while things played out and when to clear out if they only had one room to give them a little privacy. Normal Faith and Dean fights were, though intense at the time, stupid fights a couple could laugh about later.

This latest fight was not.

Faith pondered her next move.

'Go to a doctor? No. Don't want to.' Faith thought.

'It's just stupid magic anyway.' That boy they saved was no worse for the wear. He got a full blast of the stuff so why should she be worried when she wasn't even near the circle?

'Maybe because he's got boy parts and he's not the one a month late idiot.'

"Shit!" shouted as she punched the nearest tree.

Dean chose that time to finally make his way up to that part of the trail.

Faith was surprised it he got there so fast. Dean was still a little tired from their previous job killing some succubi in Arizona a couple of weeks ago. The new one had been easy – thus the afternoon off- but Faith could tell he was still edgy from the lack of sleep and stress.

Hot strong young stud or not that kind of wear took a toll. And in an honest moment like this she could admit even though she was a Slayer it wore her out too. Thus she'd gotten him to come with her to the park. It wouldn't be much, a blanket, her flask to help ward off the early winter chill, a little snuggle in the sun. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon with your man. But she'd brought her worries with her too.

So the fact that things deteriorated quickly when he'd asked innocently about the screw they'd had the other day shouldn't have been a surprise but it was.

"Usually your pushing me away around now. Not that I'm complaining though." Dean smirked as he held her happily remembering what an expert Faith was at giving head.

Faith didn't know why and she sure as hell wasn't going to put it down to hormones but she made a sharp remark about if he didn't like it there was always his fucking hand.

Faith winced as she remembered how Dean's face scrunched up, hurt and confused.

His question of "What's gotten into you?" was met by a similar response.

They'd been together long enough that Dean could read when Faith was really pissed or when she was just being defensive so when he, thinking this was one of those defensive times, he probed again, she'd just blurted it out.

"Oh just…fuck it! I'm late! That what you wanted to know?"

And then she'd run.

Up the trail to god knows where but it was better than feeling smothered by a situation she barely had a hold of.

And now here was Dean equally out of breath, his eyes wild and worried, moving towards her ready she was sure to use up what little oxygen was left.

"Are you sure?" Dean panted, hands now on her shoulders, trying to turn her so she would look at him.

Fuck that she was a Slayer. She wouldn't move.

"Not sure about anything. I just know I'm late."

Dean's grip got tighter as his mind raced.

This was the longest relationship for either one of them had been in by a mile. And best of all things were for the most part pretty easy between them considering everything.

Dean briefly considered that he should be scared but he wasn't. That stunned him even more. So he held her tighter trying to impart some of the unexpected calm he felt beginning to wash over him to her.

It wasn't working.

"We need to get you to a doctor." Dean insisted as gently as he could. He moved his hands from her tensed shoulders down so he could wrap his arms around her waist mimicking the position they were in just minutes before.

Dean spoke into her ear as he gently rubbed her stomach, "Babe. I know you are freaked. It's okay. Let's just find out what the situation is for real. That's all I'm saying."

Faith's tension increased as Dean annoyingly stroked the problem area. She tried to calm herself but when his finger brushed the top of the thin scar above her right hip that was the last straw.

She spun around and grabbed him by his shoulders holding him in place so that he absolutely heard what she had to say.

"No." Faith said firmly. "And this conversation's over."

As she held Dean, literally at arms length, she hoped if he wouldn't accept what she said he would understand the look in her eye.

Dean had seen it before. Usually during fights when things had maybe gotten a little out of control, some creature had got a blow in that Faith hadn't been expecting and damn it, it wasn't going to happen again.

Faith was the best at shutting things the fuck down.

And that's what she did then, finally letting Dean go with a slight shove and storming away back to the motel.

* * *

"Uh…Uh…Uh…Oh...,Ahhhhh…Uh…Urrrrgggh...FUCK!"

Sam grabbed onto the top of the toilet tank to steady himself as his orgasm lurched him forward.

The naked spread eagled blonde in the porno mag he'd been using to get off looked like she was smirking at him as she floated underwater, Sam having dropped the magazine into the toilet as his orgasm took him.

See this is why he didn't like doing this in the bathroom.

But he didn't feel comfortable doing it in the main room of the motel room. Thin walls, too many vacationing families around, the possibility of someone walking in and frankly when he came he got pretty loud so in the bathroom it was.

At least he could run the shower to blunt some of the noise because the last thing he needed was for the three of them to get kicked out of another motel. He'd already used up the only excuse he could, giving a slightly red faced shrug and saying 'Sorry about that. Newlyweds.' to a complaining manager to explain away Dean and Faith's boinkfesting a couple of days ago.

Besides worse than getting kicked out of the motel would be Dean's inevitable teasing about why they got booted.

Sam sighed as he fished Miss November out of the bowl.

"Ew." Sam proclaimed as he held the magazine up with a thumb and forefinger and tried to minimize the completely gross drops from touching him.

He'd almost made it over to the wastebasket when he heard a cell phone ring.

Surprised because he didn't recognize the tone he dropped the magazine quickly and ran into the main room.

There was nothing special about the ring except for the fact that he'd never heard it before. Maybe it was a cell phone left by someone who had the room before?

He closed his eyes as he tried to locate the area the sound was coming from.

He pinpointed it coming from under Faith's pile of clothes in her duffle bag.

Rooting around with the non-gross non-wet hand, trying to ignore the fact that he essentially was going through Faith's underwear, he finally got a hold of the phone and held it up to look at the display.

'R 999' appeared on the display before being replaced by text saying that there was one missed call.

Sam stared at the phone. He'd never seen Faith with it. In fact he didn't even know Faith had a cell phone. Whenever they were on a job Faith just used his or Dean's if she needed one.

Intrigued he made a mental note to let Faith know about the call and placed the phone on the dresser.

After the noisiness of the last few minutes Sam took time to enjoy the silence of the room as he cleaned up and got dressed.

There had been few moments of peace for the three of them in the last few weeks. Thus why he was in the motel room alone while Faith and Dean got some real alone time in.

It was a shame though. It seemed lately that the only time you got to take a breather was when you absolutely needed one.

Sam broke away from the sight of himself mirror trying to shake those sullen thoughts when Faith came charging into the room.

Faith sat heavily down on one of the beds, head in hands, one leg fidgeting like crazy.

All Sam could do was stare. What happened and where was Dean?

Part of him was afraid to push her to open up but knowing that with Faith the alternative, letting her stew in her anger till she exploded, was way worse.

He also knew he couldn't go in straight away. He had to wait for a better moment than this.

Remembering the phone call she missed he decided to start there.

Moving closer he called out to her "Faith? Faith!"

Faith raised her head. Her face was reddened, Sam couldn't tell whether it was from anger or something else but he knew an afternoon in the park shouldn't make you look like that.

"Faith your cell phone rang while you and Dean were out. I put it on the dresser."

Faith was momentarily stunned but she recovered quickly.

"How long ago was the call?"

"Not too long." Sam replied.

"Did you answer it?" Faith asked getting up and walking to where the phone was.

"No. It's not my phone so…"

She stared at the grey plastic square like it held some deeper meaning.

Faith picked up the phone and from Sam's point of view looked like she steeled herself before flipping it open.

"Fuck." She muttered seeing the number of who called.

She pressed a single number on the phone and walked over to the other side of the room to where the bay window was.

Faith stared outside waiting for the line to pick up.

Sam couldn't hear much but did recognize the muffled voice that answered as female.

"He there?" Faith asked angrily. "Yeah. Then go get him."

There was more waiting which provided plenty of time for Sam to wonder just who this he was.

The "he" in question must have finally gotten because the muffled voice was now deeper.

The only parts of the conversation that Sam could hear were the short "Yeahs" and "Umms" coming from Faith. Not much information there but the "Shit!" she cursed part of the way through signaled this probably wasn't a good call.

Faith was still on the phone when Dean made his entrance swinging the door open so hard that banged against the wall.

He looked to be in as bad a shape as Faith but more pissed off judging from the angry stance he took as he glared at Faith on the phone.

Faith was oblivious. A few more "Yeahs" and she walked over to the other side of the room past Dean, who was so angry that he seemed he couldn't move or tear his gaze away from Faith, to scribble something on an old take out receipt sitting on one of the nightstands.

The man on the phone made some more muffled noises to which Faith answered finally "I'll be there".

Flipping the phone closed she made her way back to the other side of the room but was yanked to a stop when Dean's hand shot out and grabbed her arm.

Sam uttered a small, "Oh shit." under his breath at the sight. Answers to what was going on weren't going to be coming be but he was sure that the cops were going to be involved if things kept going like they were.

Running over to his brother he pulled Dean off of the young woman.

Faith surprisingly hadn't seemed to notice or care because she just kept going, walking over to a pile of her dirty clothes that were on the floor and beginning to shove them into a bag.

"So you're just going to fucking leave. Is that it?" Dean yelled.

Faith continued to ignore him opening drawers now searching for more of her things to pack.

Dean was incredulous he tried to move forward but Sam held him back. Dean knew that he couldn't stop her from going if she really wanted to but he deserved more than this shit. It was his too.

"You didn't answer me." Dean said, "'Cause if you are going you are the biggest fucking coward in the world."

At that Faith turned and looked at the two men. The phone call must have been a heavy because she now seemed more subdued and numb. Whatever she and Dean were fighting about replaced by something else.

"It's not all about you." she addressed to Dean. "I just got something to take care of and I can't be here to do it."

Dean scoffed. "And what's more important than this?"

"A friend's in trouble. It's looking like he might die." Faith replied and finished insisting, "I'm going to be there for him."

Both men thought the same question 'What friend?". In the time she had been working with the brothers she hardly mentioned any other relationships. In the early hours of the morning, after one love making session, Dean had heard her confess briefly about her parents. Both gone. According to her she had no other family. She never mentioned the people they'd seen her with when they encountered her in L.A. The only other relationships she talked about were sexual so who had she been talking to?

For Dean the fact that this friend was a "he" was the last straw. Maybe that guy was the father?

"Your friend? Where exactly is this friend?" Dean asked angrily.

Faith finished her quick packing job. Slinging her duffle over her shoulder she answered "Cleveland. He's been sick for a while."

Dean squirmed out of Sam's grasp walking until he was right in Faith's way, "No. We're going to settle this before you go anywhere."

Faith who could have thrown Dean through the flimsy wall of the motel and about fifty feet into the parking lot if she felt like it, looked exasperated and tired at Dean's challenge.

She ignored Dean and to Sam's surprise looked to him. "I need a ride to the bus station. Can you take me?"

Being included in the conversation wasn't what Sam wanted and he sure didn't want to play referee.

Lying because he could feel the keys to the Impala in his pocket, Sam said, "I don't have the keys."

Faith looked at him and understood. It was a family thing. Fine.

She went over to the nightstand and pulled out the yellow pages flipping to the "Taxi" section.

"You're really gonna do this? After everything?" Dean asked.

Faith just kept looking through the book.

Dean threw up his hands exasperated. After thinking for a second he tried again. "We'll drive you…" He said.

Faith thankful this drama was over, looked up and put the phone book down. She made a move towards the door when Dean finished saying, "…to Cleveland."

Faith stopped in her tracks looking at Dean quizzically wondering what he was up to.

"It'll less than a day if we leave right now. Your _friend_ will be able to hold out that long won't he?"

Faith pondered the offer. Hours of being stuck in a car with Dean right now, wasn't her idea of a good time but it would be quicker than a Greyhound that stopped in every podunk town along the route.

Faith didn't answer instead she just walked out of the motel room out towards the car.

* * *

Dean was still white knuckling the steering wheel as drove the Impala through Iowa.

He'd insisted on driving, snatching the keys out of Sam's hands back in Glenwood Springs. He was flying by the seat of his pants on this one and driving was the only thing he felt he could be in control of.

Dean normally liked silent late night drives like this. Highway hypnosis was usually a welcome form of meditation that broke the insanity of his life.

Now all the silence afforded him was more time to worry about what was going to happen once they got to Cleveland.

He'd gotten a little taste of what might be in store a couple of hours into the trip when they had to make their first stop for gas.

Dean'd pulled the Impala into the parking lot of a large rest stop which conveniently had not only a gas station but a CVS too.

The minute they'd stopped Faith got out of the car and marched right into the store. Hoping that he could get Faith alone, Dean stuck Sam with filling up the car while he trailed Faith.

Listening to the sound of his footfalls crunching against the asphalt he wondered how he and Faith had gotten to this point. She hadn't said a word to him since the fight at the motel. Faith pointedly climbed in the back of the car with her things to get as far from Dean as she could. Dean understood that. He was still wound up when they took off but hours later, when he had calmed down and thought that they could at least be civil, she'd just ignored the small talk he tried to make.

He couldn't even look to Sam for some help, seeing the other man's awkwardness

as Sam squirmed in the passenger seat giving off vibes that he'd rather be anywhere but in the car with the two of them.

So since Dean had nothing else to work with and feeling more like he was out on a limb with each passing minute he slipped into the store behind Faith.

He found Faith standing in the candy aisle yapping away with that damn cell phone plastered to her ear.

She paced back and forth, nearly knocking over some little kid who was drooling over some candy bars.

Dean's jealousy flared. Though Dean had learned and sort of accepted that there were parts of Faith that she just wouldn't let him reach the idea she might be talking too god knows who about things instead of him…

Faith's conversation ended and she stalked off to another aisle. Dean followed.

Faith stopped at the condom aisle or that's how Dean had always thought of it. But now he watched as his girlfriend's face scrunched up, unsure as she tried to figure out just which pregnancy test would give her the bad news.

Dean had kept his distance but seeing her take even this tiny step at acknowledging what they needed to do propelled him forward until he was standing behind her.

"I'll pay for half." Dean said jokingly trying to use a gentler approach.

Faith continued her browsing.

"You just going to keep ignoring me?" Dean asked moving to Faith's side trying to get her to see him if she wasn't going to listen.

Faith grabbed one of the tests off the shelf and to Dean's surprise turned towards him and looked him in the eye and answered.

"No. Are you going to keep stalkin' me when you know damn well I don't feel like talking right now?" Faith retorted.

"You going to take that test?"

Faith didn't answer.

Dean took a chance and squeezing in between Faith and the shelves.

"I'm not trying to push you." Dean explained holding his hands up in gesture of supplication and continued.

"I just…" Dean struggled with the words he wanted to say. Feeling suddenly vulnerable he stuffed his hands in his pockets and breaking eye contact with the woman who could be carrying his child he simply finished by saying, "You know how I feel."

After a second or two of silence Dean forced himself to look up.

Faith was still staring at him taking in what she'd just heard the closest either one of them had gotten to anything approaching declaring their relationship meant more.

Looking over this man, she remembered in flashes their first meeting in L.A. She remembered their second meeting. She'd left Cleveland in a frazzled run a few months before with a Council cleaned record and ended up running into the two men in Nebraska.

She and Dean didn't waste time. They hooked up that same night and Faith not having anywhere else to be decided to stay on for a bit. What better way to begin a new lease on life with a hottie who could keep up with you at work and play?

Staying on for a bit had turned into the longest stay she'd had anywhere that hadn't had bars and guard towers to keep her confined.

The months with Dean and Sam had passed without her really noticing and now here she was having screwed up a perfectly good situation again.

Faith more scared than she could admit came up with the only answer she could muster.

"And you know how I am." She said giving the pregnancy test box to Dean before turning and walking away.

And that had been that.

There had been a repeat performance of her distancing herself from him when they stopped for what turned out to be an incredibly tense dinner at a diner along the way.

Dean watched her as he nursed a bitter cup of coffee. She sat in the opposite booth with Sam and barely looked at him as she ate.

Dean continued to choke the steering wheel, remembering how easy it was for her to toss him out of her life.

Sam and Faith's light snoring didn't cover up the sound of the pregnancy test shifting in its paper bag on the floorboard below.

Dean decided to pay for it himself.


	3. Chapter 3 Part 1

**Chapter 3**

Dean fought to keep the Impala straight as it skidded across an ice patch on the Council headquarters' driveway.

Faith and her bags were out of the car before the car had completely stopped.

Dean and Sam piled out of the car. They hadn't known what to expect or even where they were going as they'd made their way across the country. There had been no indication from Faith where they were going except for directions that she called out from that mysterious cell phone of hers.

She hadn't prepared them at all.

Dean remembered their house in Lawrence which hadn't been small by any means. If anything its size and sturdiness was a testament to the stable life they'd lost. That house and what happened in it before his mother's death was Dean's gauge for wealth of things that could be found in life.

So when he saw the sprawling old Victorian mansion, magnificent in the late afternoon light, which from parts of the huge structure that his eyes could take in, was so large it could swallow his old place-house, yard and all-and still have more than enough room for a football field, he was stunned.

'Had Faith come from this? Was _this_ home?' Dean thought as he and Sam took in the lushness and grandeur.

Sam remembered a trip to Hearst Castle that he and Jess took. Normally any thought of her still touched something so raw and painful that he quickly focused on something else. His mind pushed those feelings aside as he looked over this place that looked like that arrogant palace's older, saner and more put together sibling.

Both men lost track of Faith as they pondered the paradox of that rough and tumble woman-whose past, from the few stories Faith told them, contained nothing but loss, poverty and fighting to survive- being connected to a place that oozed a kind of abundance and grace that even Faith wouldn't associate with herself.

Hell, he and Sam wouldn't know about that either. That's why they both liked her. They knew her.

Or so they thought.

By the time they'd shaken off their initial shock Faith was already in the mansion.

Dean and Sam scrambled to catch up. Dean bent down to grab the paper bag that was on the floorboard but it was gone. He checked the back of the car and saw nothing.

He looked at Sam who was carrying most of their stuff and didn't see the bag.

Dean's heart fluttered realizing that Faith had taken it.

The men stepped through the front doors and were met with a sense of déjà vu.

There was that tense circle again. Faith along with one of the women that they'd met years before in L.A., some more of those little girls milling about and added to the group, two men. One was an older man who, to Sam, looked like one of his old professors and the other was the vampire Dean had almost killed in the parking garage.

Kennedy was holding Faith back from attacking the two men as Faith shouted at both of them.

"What the hell? What the hell?" Faith yelled at Giles. "You said he relapsed. That he was fucking dying!" Lunging at Angel she added, "And you! I oughta kick your ass."

The vampire, who Dean could see was fully recovered from whatever was ailing him in L.A., looked guilty. Moving forward Angel gently pried Faith away from Kennedy and surprising Faith, pulled her into a tight hug.

'So this was the 'friend'.' Dean thought scowling.

Faith's discomfort was clear as she was wrapped up in Angel's arms. She continued to fight a little more but eventually gave in to the quiet affection Angel was giving.

They continued to hold each other for a few more seconds before the vampire pulled back. A smirk slowly grew on his face as he said, "And we're glad to see you too." Angel's smirk turned to a genuine smile as gave her arm a light squeeze and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

Faith looked up at him, her body still holding some tension and anger, but the expression on her face also showed a sense of relief.

Dean watched, incredulous, as Faith allowed herself to be silently soothed by this stranger-a fucking demon to boot-who she cared for enough that he could calm her in a way that failed for him numerous times before.

Giles spoke up. "I'm sorry about the deception. We felt it necessary unfortunately." He said to Faith.

Giles turned his gaze to Dean and Sam. "Please forgive the spectacle." Giles offered his hand to Sam. "You are?"

"My name is Sam and this is my brother Dean." Sam answered shaking Giles' hand. Giles extended his hand to Dean but Dean was still so captivated by the sight of Faith and Angel that he didn't even notice Giles' attempt an introduction.

Sam nudged Dean with his shoulder but Dean kept staring.

"Uh. Sorry about that." Sam said apologizing. "Dean's been up all night driving. You'll have to forgive him."

Giles gave Sam a sympathetic smile. "That's quite all right. My name is Giles. You've come a long way. I suppose you would like to get some rest?"

Sam looked at Dean who clearly was emotionally and physically spent. He knew something was up between Dean and Faith and whatever was going on had started back in Colorado and had only gotten worse as they made their way east. Taking a load off sounded like a good idea. Maybe they'd have time to wind down and Faith and Dean could get their issue straightened out.

Sam's eyes swept across the room trying to evaluate the trustworthiness of the people in front of him.

Giles didn't look like an ax murderer. He and Dean had already met most of the members of the greeting party before and the new people seemed okay enough. He briefly looked at Angel and Faith, who were still catching up it seemed. Angel was now whispering something in her ear which made Faith give out a quick muffled chuckle.

Looking at their closeness he guessed that meant the vampire was okay too.

But then again Giles had admitted that they'd lied to get them here. And he could feel the hostility pouring off of Dean. Sam briefly worried but feeling the heft of the rifles and rock salt in the bag he was carrying he was reassured.

Turning to Giles, Sam replied, "That'd be all right. Thank you."

Giles smiled, pleased. "Very well." He said. Gesturing to two of the girls standing by, "Kristine. Jasmine. Take them to the east wing please. There are some empty double rooms there."

The two girls nodded and began to walk away.

Sam sidled up to Dean again waving some fingers in his face. After a moment he finally got his brother's attention.

"Hey." Sam said, tossing a sidelong glance at Faith and Angel. "We'll handle it later. Yeah?"

Dean reluctantly moved along with Sam down the hall where the girls were waiting for them.

* * *

There was a layer of dust on the bureau thick enough that Faith could easily write her name on the surface of the wood.

The rest of room had been left alone too as though she had died and no one wanted to disturb her memory rather than she'd left on her own.

After Sam and Dean had departed Angel had grabbed her bags and together they'd made their way to her old room.

Angel sat safely in a shadow that fell across the bed and looked at Faith as she paced about the room.

He watched knowingly as Faith tried to get her bearings. She was still hurt by the lie they'd used to bring her here and he knew that she would demand an explanation soon. But for now, she was trying to get reacquainted with her old home.

There were framed posters on the walls. A few black and white photos of what the captions said were different streets in Paris.

Faith recalled bitterly how thoughtless she felt these additions were to the room of a wanted convict. She obviously hadn't had a say in the room's furnishing-there was a writing desk in the room for God's sake-and she would have sworn the posters were an act of revenge if she hadn't been sure that the others hadn't given a damn about hating her enough to concoct some stupid slight like this.

Faith meandered around the room for a few minutes before coming to a stop before a picture of a rain-splashed gleaming cobblestoned alleyway. Peering at an old bicycle in the photograph she let out a small defeated sigh and began to speak.

"You know the first place I went after I got out of here?" Faith asked Angel.

"I don't know." He answered.

"I went to the donut shop down the street and stayed there for about an hour. I got a cup of coffee and a donut and stared out of the window until a couple of cops showed up."

She turned around and looked at Angel with a sad smile. "I freaked out for a second until I realized they couldn't do a thing to me."

Moving closer to Angel she paused and frowned. "But then the horrible thing was that I really didn't want to be there anymore and I couldn't just come back here. I couldn't think of anywhere that I wanted to be ya know?" Angel nodded, understanding perfectly what she was saying.

"All I'd done for years was work my ass off to keep myself alive and freaking sane long enough to get my own life and when I did, I was more scared than I'd been when everyone was makin' the decisions for me. I couldn't even make it out of the damn neighborhood."

Faith threw up her hands and let out an ironic laugh. "Hell, I didn't even eat the donut. I ended up throwing it away!"

"What kind of donut was it?" Angel asked.

"Jelly." Faith replied, taking a seat next to Angel on the bed.

"What did you do after that?"

Faith didn't answer right away. She seemed to pause as if remembering some past pain. She looked down at the floor finally replying, "I got on the bike Giles got me and took off. I got on the first highway out of town and didn't stop riding until I got to Nashville."

"That's pretty far." Angel stated.

"Yeah." Faith said continuing to look at the patterns on the hardwood floor. "Yeah it is."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

Angel took that time to look at the young woman who was smarter and much more mature than she would give herself credit for being. He thought back to those horrible days in Sunnydale when he could have predicted the dangerous end she was headed toward. She reminded him of himself, not as Angelus, but as Liam, drinking and partying and trying to make up for not having something that he wasn't old or experienced enough to define.

He recalled one afternoon back then, staring at her and Buffy in the high school's library. He had let his mind wander and was temporarily taken aback as his demonic voice, which normally was tamed enough by the gypsy magic not to offer commentary, flashed a thought through his mind like a lightning bolt that temporarily illuminates and scars the landscape.

"Faith's weak enough to take." The voice had said.

Angel had been disturbed by the thought at the time but still used that knowledge to trick the girl a few weeks later.

The woman sitting beside him had come a long way from the overwhelmed child he knew back then. Even if, ironically, success meant ending up back where she'd started, just as confused as she'd been when she'd left.

It wasn't always about having the answers so much as being tough enough to honestly face the questions when they came.

Faith coming back here, phony story to lure her there or not, had taken some balls.

The grandfather clock in the hallway sounded that it was 4:30.

Angel sighed. Time was short. He needed to leave and there was still so much to catch up on. She hadn't been there for his recovery and though it hurt him that she wasn't there to give support he did understand why she'd left.

If nothing else he needed to let her know that before she inevitably left again.

"Sorry about the hug out there. I couldn't help it."

Faith raised her head and for the first time since she'd come back she showed those dimples of hers.

"It's okay. Everyone knows you're a big ol' wuss." Faith said around a broad smile.

"Well what can I say? I missed you." Angel said standing up.

"Same here." Faith said before her expression turned to a frown as she saw Angel moving to the door.

"You going?" She asked feeling a little anxious at the prospect of being by herself in this room.

"I have a class." Angel answered.

Faith's eyebrow practically rose to her hairline. "What are you target practice?"

Angel shrugged. "Pretty much. The stakes are blunted but I can give the girls some practice fighting without them having to actually worry about getting eaten."

Angel saw the nervousness blooming on Faith's face. "Giles said that he they were having a meeting at 5:00 in his office." Angel offered. "He's got answers for you."

"Who else is going to be there?"

"The usual suspects I suppose." Angel responded.

Faith shook her head. "B's not going to be happy to see me I'm sure."

"Yeah? Well, go anyway. We needed you here for a reason." Angel encouraged.

With that Angel gave Faith a quick wave goodbye and took his leave.

Faith got up and moved toward the window on the other side of the room. Outside she could see the Impala sitting on the back driveway.

Dean and Sam were somewhere on the other side of the house. Faith chuckled bitterly thinking who she wouldn't want to run into more right now. Dean or Buffy?

She'd quite enough of Buffy's crap in the year she forced herself to stay here. She wasn't looking forward to the reunion. Her relationship with Dean was on the rocks.

She was screwed either way and there was no use running.

Faith turned and looked at the clock radio on the nightstand. She had about 20 minutes. That was more than enough time.

She moved across the room again to her bags. Opening her duffle bag she pulled out the paper bag that she'd stashed inside.

Removing the pregnancy test from the bag, Faith walked into the bedroom's bathroom and shut the door behind her.

* * *

"…_and we have come a long way. In the coming months we will have much work to do to make this a better place to live for our children. I look forward to working with you to make this happen for our community…"_

Dean let loose a long disinterested yawn. Sam had turned on the tv because just curling up in bed wasn't making Dean drowsy. They were both happy when they saw the election coverage on a local news station. Watching political coverage was just the thing to bore Dean and get him some Zs.

Unfortunately in this case, Dean was so wired from all that had happened, watching Jim Paskowitz give a thoroughly underwhelming and long victory speech wasn't even enough to do the trick.

Sam pointed at the tv with the remote. "You want me to turn this off?"

Dean yawned again. "Doesn't matter, I'm still running on adrenaline."

Sam looked at his brother, who like him was lounging, but on the other bed in the room. Giles' tween tour guides had taken them to a room on the other side of the mansion. They seemed to be the only people on this side of the mansion, which Sam thought could mean that despite the gracious welcome they were being put out of the way.

He turned his head back to the television where the councilman-elect was kissing his wife, which reminded Sam of something he'd meant to ask Dean before.

"What is going on with you and Faith? And what was that in the motel? And here? You looked like you were going to hit that guy." Sam asked turning on his side so he could see Dean fully.

Dean sighed. "Dude, I'm not trying to keep anything from you but I just really don't want to talk about it. Things are just kind of turned upside down right now."

That wasn't an answer Sam thought. If Dean didn't want to talk about what was going on that was his business but when whatever troubles he and Faith were having made them have to hightail it halfway across the country, Sam felt he had a right to know.

But pressing wouldn't be good either. Dean could be stubborn as a mule if he felt he was being pressured to do something. Sam gave in.

"You know if you aren't sleeping we could see what's going on around here. I kinda got a vibe from this place." Sam said.

Dean regarded Sam intrigued. "A dangerous kind of vibe?"

"No more of a weird 'Hey why are we being herded to the other side of the house' vibe. I don't know why but I think that that offer of resting up wasn't all entirely friendly. And by the way, it's been like…" Sam checked his watch. "…25 minutes. Where's Faith?" Sam added hoping not to reopen that can of worms.

His fears were dismissed as Dean sat up and looked to the room's door.

"Well to be honest right now I just want a moment of peace. The room's fine with me. But if you want to check things out I'm up for it."

"You sure?" Sam asked seeing the red in Dean's eyes.

"I'm fine man." Dean answered brushing aside Sam's concern. "I was pulling triple shifts when you were just a pup. Let's go."

The men ambled out into the hallway, instantly realizing that they had no idea where to go.

They took a right and a few turns later found themselves in front of a large set of ornately carved wooden doors.

"What do you think is behind this?" Dean asked running a finger along one of the wood carvings.

"Only one way to find out." Sam answered pushing one of the doors open.

The door swept open revealing what had to be the biggest most gorgeous library Sam had ever seen.

Sam let out an admiring whistle as he took in the multistory room. The columns of bookcases shelving hundreds and hundreds of books all along the perimeter of the room broken by the huge windows that let in the perfect amount of light to read by. Two dozen long mahogany reading tables dotted with what Sam was shocked to see were real Tiffany banker's lamps on one side and huge fully stocked bookcases that extended far into another part of the room.

Dean watched as Sam made his way further into the room in a daze.

Sam was in nerd heaven.

Dean wasn't as impressed. He found a seat at one of the tables and played with one of the lamps, waiting for Sam to come off his intellectual contact high.

Minutes passed as Sam browsed the shelves, his eyebrows lifting in surprise as he not only stumbled upon a first edition copy of _Moby Dick_ but on the bookshelf below it something called _Mana, Adaro and Figona-A Compendium of Papuan Magics and Their Practical Uses_ that was about a century and a half older.

Picking up the book Sam tried to be careful, turning the yellowed pages which showed ink drawings of what looked like tribal warriors using different tools.

"I'd put that down if I were you."

Sam and Dean were startled by the new voice.

The voice belonged to a tall young woman who despite her stern warning was smiling at the two men.

"Giles really doesn't like it when you touch the really old books with your bare hands. Believe me, if you haven't heard the 20 minute lecture about the oil on your fingers and 'How you bloody children don't respect history', don't provoke it."

Sam returned the woman's smile and carefully placed the book back on the bookshelf.

Sam apologized shrugging. "Sorry. I just saw all the books and I just…"

"You couldn't help it." The woman finished. "I understand. I like it here too."

The woman walked over to where Dean was sitting. She held out her hand.

"My name is Dawn. What's yours?"

Dean moved to grasp Dawn's hand but the force of a strong yawn made him sit back.

Sam gave a little chuckle. "It's not you. He's just running on empty. I'm Sam. He's Dean."

Dawn shook her head. "Boy, do I know about that." She moved forward past Dean to one of the bookcases along the wall and began looking for a book.

"You came here with Faith right?" She said with her back turned to the two men.

"Yeah." Dean answered. "She didn't tell us about all this though. You all live here?"

Dawn found her book and walked over to the table where Dean was sitting.

"Yes. This is a special school. I'm a student here." She answered motioning Sam over.

Sam took a seat beside her. She was very pretty and Sam could tell Dawn had a keen intellect. When she said she liked it in the library he could tell she really meant it.

He was intrigued. "So what do you study?" Sam asked.

Without batting an eyelash Dawn answered. "Ancient and demon languages. I'm taking course in psychonautics and technology this quarter and I'm finishing a seminar on sigilization."

Neither of the men looked at her like she was crazy. The corner of Dawn's mouth lifted into a smirk. She'd found two fellow travelers.

"You want to see something cool?" She asked Sam.

"Uh sure?" Sam replied wondering what Dawn was doing.

Dawn opened the book and fanned the pages. "There is nothing up my sleeve. You see the pages are blank?"

Sam nodded.

"What book were you looking at?" She asked Sam.

"It was a book on Papua New Guinea and magic. Mana, adore or something. I can't remember the exact title."

"That's okay." Dawn assured him.

Closing the book once more she held the book up to Sam's mouth.

"Okay say the title again."

Looking puzzled Sam looked over Dawn's head to Dean for an explanation. Dean answered with another yawn.

Sam rolled his eyes and looking at the amusement on Dawn's face repeated the incorrect title he'd given her before.

A small whooshing sound came from the book. Dawn opened the book again and showed Sam not only were the pages filled -Sam could see the same ink drawings from before-but the book had shrunk in size down to match the thinner volume he'd held.

Sam was in awe as he took the book from her.

"How did you… That is the coolest thing I've ever seen."

"It's evil magic." Dawn said grinning. She immediately regretted her choice of words seeing the look of horror on Sam's face.

"No. No. I really don't mean evil." She said waving her hands back and forth. "That was a joke. Sort of. The spell's harmless. The people we took it from were evil. But it's all safe. Really."

Sam thought for a second. "Can you conjure up a copy of any book?"

"No just the ones in the library. Although whatever you want will probably be here. There are about 4 million books here."

Sam's jaw dropped. He got over his astonishment and held the closed the book and held it back up to his mouth again. He whispered.

Another whoosh and the book shrunk once more.

Sam handed the book back to Dawn.

Dawn looked at the spine.

"A Wizard of Earthsea?" She said flipping open the book. "Is this like a Harry Potter rip off or something?" Dawn asked skimming the first page.

Sam shook his head and laughed. "Actually this was written long before Harry Potter. And it's better too, in my opinion."

Dawn smiled back at Sam and placed the book between them on the table so they read together.


	4. Chapter 3 Part 2

Faith rushed down the hallway to Giles' office. She wanted to get this meeting over with.

The pregnancy test had only taken three minutes but she'd spent more than that amount of time anxious and scared, huddled up against the bathroom wall, afraid to have her worst fears confirmed.

There was no way she could be a mother. She would be lousy at it. The only clue she had about proper parenting was second-hand. No kid deserved to be saddled with her.

It took her 15 minutes to calm herself so she could look at the test.

When she did see the result Faith's knees almost gave out.

The test was negative.

At first she didn't believe it because her hands were shaking so badly she couldn't tell if it was two lines or one.

She gently set the test down on the counter and looked at it again.

It was still negative even after part of her wished that it wasn't.

She was surprised by the feeling of loss she experienced. She'd spent weeks being terrified of the truth and the last day in an emotional war with Dean. It had been for nothing.

She had also shown her weakness. God only knew what Dean was thinking now. She still had to tell him and she didn't know if she could handle it if he looked relieved by the news.

The insecure part of her, that kept her up at night staring at Dean as he slept next to her, questioning if the inches between them in bed signaled something worrying and made her days miserable with thoughts of how their relationship was bound to end badly, would forever wonder if any sense of relief meant that he was happy to be away from her, the baby or maybe both.

It was like some giant weight had been moved from the top of a well of desperate desires of togetherness and security that she didn't know she'd wanted from Dean and any future they could have together.

And despite the sense of being unmoored from what had been her life, an idea as solid and sure as the steel of her boots took anchor in the back of her mind.

She'd fucked up for the last time and the only conversation she would be having with Dean would be their last one.

Faith took some deep breaths and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She had been too shocked to cry so her face looked normal.

She only hoped that she could keep herself together long enough to make it through Giles' meeting because she was in no shape to handle seeing Buffy again in her current state.

Hurrying Faith blew into the office 10 minutes late and was surprised to see, looking at the others in the room, that in a contest to see who looked like their life was falling apart the most she have stiff competition.

Giles was there and in the better light of his office, with is glasses off, she could see the bags under his eyes.

Kennedy looked upset as she sat next to Willow on the sofa. Willow had nasty looking fading bruises on her face and neck. The sling her arm was in wasn't her only injury because Faith caught her wincing as Willow turned to regard her.

Xander was propped in a chair, his clothes were wrinkled and he had the kind of scraggly beginnings of a beard she'd only seen on men who were homeless.

There was no Buffy.

The whole scene made her nervous. There was dead silence in the room as she guided herself into a chair.

If there was one thing that Faith had learned over the years was that quiet only came from things too battered to rage like they wanted to. She took a quick survey of the people slumped into chairs and couches and took notice. Willow looked like she hadn't slept in a month.

Giles, seated at his desk, called the meeting to order and started his story with a down-turned gaze and a tired huff. "I suppose I should start with an apology. When we contacted you we felt it necessary to lie about what was happening here." Giles held up a hand to stave off the threatening look that Faith flashed at him. "Not because we didn't trust you but we couldn't be sure the gentlemen you were traveling with could be trusted with the information."

"Buffy…" the older man stopped with pain. He took a moment to gather himself and suddenly meeting Faith's eyes said, "Buffy was turned 3 weeks ago."

Faith's anxiety was replaced with shock. Her mind tried to get her to voice the dozen questions that sprung up after Giles' blow. The only thing it could do was spin around a single thought.

There were moments, when she was much younger, alone and scared and Sunnydale-bound, holed up in some box car or truck-bed; she thought that it might have been okay if Kakistos had just turned Joanna. Dead, demon or not, at least she would have someone who remember and once loved her.

In the moment after Giles spoke and her heart froze, looking over the despairing faces of Buffy's family she realized what a stupid naïve kid she'd been.

Giles started up again knocking her out of her daze. "We didn't know that she'd been turned right away. We assumed…"

Faith interrupted him, "How the hell don't you know somebody's been vamped?"

"Because she can walk around in the daylight and doesn't give off any signals." Xander answered. "She lived here for the last three months, the same old Buffy. No fangs, no blood, no dead bodies.

Heck, Willow went with her on a holy water run to St. Mary's." Xander's lips twisted into a sad smile. "She spilled part of one jug all over her jeans. We made jokes about her 'going problem' for days."

"I'm sorry, I still don't get it." Faith stood up and started pacing. "When you get turned, you die. It takes what, a day for you to rise? Someone had to see her, right?"

"Yes, but we are talking about a slayer, not a normal person." Giles stated moving to sit on the edge of his desk. "We have done research and believe the difference has to do with the demon heritage of the Slayer. Since every Slayer already has part of a demon inside of…"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Faith growled and halted her pacing.

Giles confused, furrowed his brow, "You don't know? Surely you were told…"

Giles thought back. Buffy hadn't included that information as part of her speech when they were fighting the First. She pretty much stuck to "lots of vampires", "not so many slayers", "here's how you can help", "let's be heroes". The year Faith had spent in Cleveland had been dedicated to reforming the Council and finding all the new slayers not education.

"You would have known if you had stayed." Kennedy said bored not even bothering to look at Faith as she spoke, "It's part of the curriculum. It's one of the first things they teach you when you join up. We're all about full disclosure nowadays."

Faith sat back down in her chair, head down, hands buried in her hair. This was too much. Jesus.

Giles sat in the chair next to hers. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way but this is vital to understanding what happened to her."

"Willow accidentally found out what occurred. We are still researching the fallout of the spell that created the new slayers. The new girls' power is different than yours and Buffy's in some ways. In order to find this out we have to do magical testing of a sort. We use Buffy as a baseline against which we compare the other girls."

Faith still reeling and huffed out a low, "Like that's anything new."

"A few weeks ago Willow's testing showed that something was different about Buffy. When we tried talk to her about it, her face changed, she attacked Willow and ran off."

Faith fell back into the chair and sighed, "I don't care."

"I'm sorry?"

"Who did it?"

"Faith…what?" Giles asked still confused.

Faith exploded in frustration, "Who's the motherfucker that did it? Sired her or whatever. Where do we find the son of a bitch?"

"We don't know." Willow replied in a tone that she hoped would calm Faith down.

"We believe that we could possibly reverse whatever was done to her." Giles said. "She may even still have her soul. Faith, we are focused on getting her back."

"You mean like Angel?" Faith said dismissively.

"We are going to do whatever we have to make her whole again." Giles said determined.

Faith gave a chuckle and shook her head. "What do you need me for then? I'm not a witch. You've got Slayers all over the place. So why call me?"

Willow then stood up. Kennedy made a motion to help her but Willow waived her off. She limped slightly and was clearly in some pain as she walked towards Faith. When she reached her she held out an envelope.

Willow grimaced, "We thought she hadn't been by the house. We put a disinvite spell up that works but a few days ago this was left on the front step. It's for you."

Willow handed Faith the envelope and returned to her seat on the couch next to Kennedy.

Faith held the envelope with a shaking hand. The uneasy feelings she had from before were back and had multiplied about a thousand times.

It was a plain white envelope, nothing special. The name "Faith" was printed in what Faith recognized as Buffy's neat feminine handwriting on the front.

Faith stared at the envelope, unsure whether to open it. She was still staring a minute later.

"You know if this were a tv show, in a suspenseful moment like this, there would be music or something." Xander wearily piped in. "Something swelling, probably with what do you call those things? They're like a overgrown violin? VIE-uh-lo?"

"A viola." Willow answered. "And you mispronounced it. It's vee-OH-la."

"Whatever, you say vee-OH-la, I say VIE-uh-lo." Xander grinned. "I just need something to help the suspense. That is if Faith ever opens the thing."

Faith looked up at Xander. "If you're so damn interested in what's inside why didn't you open it?"

Xander gave her a knowing smirk, "Tried to. It's magically closed or something. For your eyes only I guess."

Faith steeled herself and tore into the envelope. Inside wasn't the letter she expected but instead a strip of pictures fell to the floor by her feet.

Her hand still with a case of the shakes, picked up the thin rectangle of photos. She was thrown by what she saw as her mind recalled the circumstances when they were taken.

A younger Faith, dressed in her best clubbing clothes, okay her only clubbing clothes, stared at Buffy, enthralled by the beautiful girl swaying ahead of her, amazed that Buffy was _still_ holding her hand as the two left the Bronze and wove their way across town, ending up blocks away from UC Sunnydale.

The slayers were both very drunk and feeling mischievous, playfully flirting with a smattering of college boys who were staggering home from a party, in full view of the boys' equally smashed girlfriends.

Buffy, normally serious, laughed and giggled, dismissing the threats of the older girls as she pulled Faith into a too bright convenience store.

They broke apart then. Faith whispered in Buffy's ear about making a "special" purchase, asking the older girl if she could keep the old man who owned the store occupied for a minute.

Buffy threw Faith a suspicious look, cottoning onto what Faith was about to do, unsure but not wanting to ruin the exuberant mood Faith was in.

Buffy nodded her head agreeing to her part in the scheme. She gave Faith a wink and sashayed to the front of the store.

Faith kept her eye on the other girl, or rather on her butt, for a moment and whistled low as she saw straight as an arrow Buffy lean provocatively, perky B-cups first, closer to the man behind the register, trying to convince him if she, "Please? Please? Please?", could have the hard pack of Marlboros behind him.

Faith finally tore her eyes away from Buffy and crept to the back of the store where the alcohol was.

In a well practiced move, she stayed low, out of the way of the security mirrors overhead as she looked for something good to steal. She passed a row of expensive vodka and whisky that she normally would have snatched but she wanted something that Buffy would drink too and judging from the fruity drinks the girl had at the Bronze a fifth of something strong enough to burn her throat wouldn't do.

She rounded an end cap and found herself in the aisle that began the wine section. For a dumpy 24 hour store on the edge of a college campus the store had a surprisingly wide selection she thought. She moved through the aisle and grinning stopping in front of a shelf full of Japanese wines. She looked around once more and deftly grabbed a bottle of plum wine, scurrying to the front of the store.

She kept the bottle close to her side as she casually exited, returning Buffy's wink as she passed her. Once outside she ran down the block to an alley and waited for Buffy to join her.

Some minutes passed and Faith began to worry that old guy had more going on upstairs than it seemed and Buffy got caught. Faith took a step out of the alley ready to save her friend when something jumped onto her back snatching the bottle of sweet wine out of her hand.

"So what did we get?" Buffy asked as she held up the bottle to what little light shone in the alley, trying to read the label.

Faith thought the way Buffy's screwed up her face as she tried to pronounce the unfamiliar words was adorable beyond belief. "CHOI-yah OO-mee-shoo?" Buffy tried.

"Wu-MAY-shoo", Faith said taking the bottle out of Buffy's hand and opening it. Taking a swig she handed the bottle back to the other girl. "It's good shit B. Try it." Faith offered.

Buffy took a huge gulp of the alcohol smiling broadly as the sweet wine buoyed her inebriation.

"God this is great. You should have taken two. Or a case." she brightly amended. "Seriously that guy at the counter was a total pedophile. You could have stolen half the store and he wouldn't have known."

Faith lunged to take the bottle back but Buffy eluded her. "Hey! No fair. Puff, puff, pass, B. Quit hogging the goods."

Buffy ignored her. She crossed the street and began walking towards the campus. She shouted back to Faith, waving the bottle in front of her. "If you want some…" Buffy singsonged as she emphasized the word 'some' "…you have to catch me."

Buffy took off, drunk but still able to sprint, disappearing into the shadows leaving Faith dumbfounded.

Faith laughed as she tore after the blonde streaking through the campus. Crossing a large plaza Faith cut quickly between two buildings and ended up at one of the school's food courts.

She stopped running sensing that Buffy was nearby. "Yo, B! Stealing is wrong you know." Faith shouted as she backed cautiously past the closed campus gaming arcade.

She was just about to pass the arcade's photo booth when an arm shot out of the machine and pulled Faith inside.

Faith fell sideways nearly doing a face plant into the cleavage of a chuckling Buffy, who was still getting up close and personal with the purloined wine.

Aroused, Faith quickly pushed herself away steadying herself enough to take the now much lighter bottle out of Buffy's hand.

The older Faith sitting in Giles' office paused. She was feeling lightheaded, like she was young and horny and drunk all over again as she looked at the photos. Her vision blurred a bit, her conscious mind trying to make a strong case that passing out was better than continuing down memory lane.

She hadn't thought about that night in years. The prison quality therapy hadn't been worth a whole hell of a lot but it had taught her not to dwell on bad things. That night definitely was a bad thing, even more horrible than the blood drenched night that followed not long after, though at the time she would have said it was the best night of her life.

The red tones in the photos mocked her as though she should have known they foreshadowed something sinister was coming. Her fight to drag herself away from the denouement of that night failed, as her flailing mind sank again drowning her in the past.

The first things her memory chose to call up were the bright colors in the booth. The light had hurt her eyes a bit, when the pain receded enough that she could open her eyes more she still couldn't understand where she was.

"It's Chinese I think." Buffy said pointing to the fluorescent pink Korean characters that lined the display in front of them.

"I don't care what the fuck it is. It's makin' my eyes bleed." Faith complained.

"Stop being so dramatic F." Buffy chided as she dug through her jeans pulling out a wad of bills.

"The fuck are you doing?" Faith demanded sitting up more downing some of the wine that was left.

Buffy shrugged, "I want to take pictures."

"Do you even know what you're buying for…" Faith squinted searching for and finally finding a price label somewhere in the foreign writing, "…four dollars? Holy shit!"

"It's my money or actually my mom's money." Buffy said defending herself as she stuffed the bills into the slot. "Besides, the drinks at the Bronze cost just as much."

"B we didn't buy those drinks," Faith corrected remembering the reason she and Buffy invited the throng of guys to dance with them. "The big E has a photo thing too and it's free. Well it's free if you know how to kick it just right."

Buffy paused looking at the menu describing which theme the photos would be in. She chose one and held her finger just in front of the button that would start the picture taking.

She turned to Faith and asked the girl if she was ready. Faith waived a hand dismissively and Buffy punched the button.

FLASH!…pause…FLASH!…pause…FLASH!…pause…FLASH!…pause…FLASH!

There was a soft whirring sound and a second later a strip of photos popped out of a slot.

Buffy grabbed the photos and pleased with the result squealed like a little girl who had gotten everything she had wanted for her birthday.

Faith took the photos out of Buffy's hand and examined them.

Buffy had chosen the friendship theme. Each of the sharp photos had some overly happy text in one corner saying inane things like "BEST FRIENDS 4 EVER!!" and "FRIENDS RULE!!" in fluorescent colors so intense that Faith thought the manufacturer intended for the slogans to be burned into the retina, making sure that you never _EVER_ forgot that you and your friend were "2 HOT 2 4GET!!". Good God.

Buffy, of course, had a gorgeous alcohol-enhanced cheerleader perfect smile in each of the photos. Faith's heavy lidded sneering look wouldn't go with any pom-pom waving but fit perfectly with the upraised middle finger she pulled out for each picture.

Buffy was so happy with the outcome, she'd put four more dollars into the machine to take more pictures, before Faith knew it.

"Oh come on B." Faith whined pulling Buffy away from pressing anything. "These pictures are frickin' lame. Let's go back to your house. I'll let you braid my hair or whatever. Anything. This sucks."

The hurt look Buffy gave Faith battered the walls around Faith's heart. Faith squirmed as the other girl's lower lip stuck out in a pout and her eyes began to fill with tears. Faith sighed and let go of Buffy conceding defeat.

"Ok. Ok. Don't fucking cry." Faith said annoyed downing the last of the wine. "One more then let's go, alright?"

Faith jeered at Buffy as Buffy's tears miraculously cleared up faster than they had appeared.

Buffy grabbed Faith pulling her closer as she pushed another one of the buttons starting the torture again.

One more photo became four as Buffy's mom's money allowed them to try out more of the silly themes on offer. Nearly twenty minutes later the girls had a blue filtered sea themed set of photos as well as a vacation themed one complete with little sandcastles and beach balls imprinted on the paper. They took those after the sepia toned one, with the word "WANTED!!" in old timey lettering framing their faces.

By the end of their little photo session Faith wasn't as annoyed as she had been when they started. Buffy got happier and more cuddly with each new set of photos and that definitely didn't suck. Faith put her middle finger away and actually began to smile halfway into the photo snapping.

Faith noticed that there was one last theme they hadn't tried as Buffy moved forward to insert more bills into the machine.

Faith tilted her head, confused putting a hand on the girl's wrist to stop her. "Hey B." Faith said, "You might wanna stop now."

"Why?" Buffy asked briefly looking back at Faith, unsure why she stopped her.

Faith shook her head, feeling the reason was obvious. "B. _Look_." Faith said pointing at the last theme on the display.

The arrow pierced hearts above the heart shaped start button were deep almost blood red easily communicating in any language what kind of photos the customer would get if they pressed the button.

Buffy shrugged at Faith, moving forward and putting another four dollars into the machine.

Faith was surprised. She thought for sure Buffy would have realized what she was about to do and stopped immediately.

"B, come on. Let's go." Faith suggested. "That's more for you and your boy."

"Faith it's no big deal." Buffy said as she finished stuffing the last of the bills in the bill acceptor. "Besides Angel can't take pictures anyway."

Faith's hatred of Angel flared in that moment. She had hoped that it was more than the alcohol that was making Buffy more adventurous. Faith wounded, scoffed at the girl retorting under her breath "That's not the only thing he can't do."

Buffy whipped around, eyes narrowed dangerously, "_What_ did you just say?"

Faith struggled to answer, pinned down by those green eyes that seemed to take on a paler colder hue as Buffy stared her down. "Uh, I was just saying…" Faith started unable to work her way out of what she'd implied.

"Who told you that?" Buffy practically screeched.

Faith held up her hands trying to diffuse the situation. "Look B it doesn't matter. Let's just take the pictures and I'll walk you home."

Happy giggly Buffy was now officially gone. Buffy's face was from the alcohol and her anger and Faith silently hoped that Buffy could regain some of her famous self-control.

Faith was wrong.

"I want to know who told you and I want to know what gives you the right to say something like that?" Buffy practically growled.

Faith was angry herself now. It wasn't like she was lying. "Xander alright! Xander told me. You act like that's some sort of secret." Faith continued crossing her arms bitterly, "And don't get pissy with me because you didn't trust me enough to share. If you had told me in the first place I wouldn't have had to get it from him."

Buffy turned from Faith then, real tears making their way down her eyes. She tried to control her emotions but the night of drinking and all she had gone through in the last few months with Angel caught up with her. She began to feel claustrophobic sitting in the tiny booth suffocating because of Faith's hurt feelings and her own guilt.

"I didn't mean to…" Buffy started unable to continue for a moment as her breath caught.

"Spare me. The rest of us have to watch you mope around over this guy and you completely shut us out. Quit the fucking crying already." Faith ordered cutting Buffy off.

"You just don't understand." Buffy stated like that was all the explanation needed for how she'd betrayed her friends.

"What am I supposed to understand, B? The fact that you can't fuck him?" Faith challenged. "No you're right that I don't understand. I don't understand why you keep puttin' yourself and everybody else and hell even Angel through this shit."

Shocked, Buffy's jaw dropped. Faith sat there defiant daring Buffy to tell her that she was wrong.

"He loves me. That's all that matters and I really don't give a shit if you or anyone else likes it." Buffy said defending her relationship.

Faith laughed. "Oh my God! You cursed. What was "shit" on your word-a-day calendar this morning or are you pissed off because you know I'm right?"

"Screw you." Buffy said gathering up her purse moving to bolt out of the booth.

Faith snorted, shooting out her hand to latch on Buffy's arm. "Would that help to take the edge off because I'm thinking at this point you gotta be _hella_ tight." Faith sneered pulling Buffy back down.

Buffy swung at Faith, her fist connecting just under the other girl's chin. It was solid punch but Buffy was drunk so the blow didn't have the impact she'd intended.

Faith took the hit and shoved Buffy back against the inside of the booth.

Faith held the Buffy down getting into the other girl's face so Buffy would hear exactly what she had to say.

"You are the most selfish bitch I've ever met." Faith told her. Buffy snuck an arm in between them grabbing a fistful of Faith's shirt trying to pry the other girl off of her.

Faith didn't even notice Buffy's struggling as she continued, "You got all these people fallin' over themselves to help you, risking their fucking lives for you and you can't even save them some grief by keeping them away from your bullshit.

You know I got to see Angel. And he doesn't seem like a bad guy for a bloodsucker. I bet he knows. I bet he does." Faith taunted. "I bet he dumps your ass because you might get off torturing the people around you but from what I heard he's past that kinda crap."

Buffy's struggling got more frantic with every word. Her legs joined in the effort to dislodge Faith, but Faith just rode out that wave of violence too.

"And you know what, you are so fucking selfish that you won't recognize that he's doing it because he _loves_ you. You can't see love in anybody. You don't know what it is."

Buffy started crying again as she whimpered out, "I do know what love is."

"Really princess? Really? Show me. Come on. I'll let you prove it." Faith goaded lifting off of the girl and reaching out her arm punching the heart shaped button.

Faith was rocketed back to the present for a moment, her heart racing and her breathing heavy. She could hear faintly, as though it was working from some great distance, the ticking of the Giles' clock signaling that only seconds had passed since she started reminiscing. It felt like an hour. Faith was gripping the photo strip so tight in her shaking hands that she expected it to start ripping.

The ticking of the clock hypnotized her once more returning her to that place from a long time ago as she sat mesmerized, her dark brown eyes moving through the photos in the series.

FLASH!

LOVE U?? LOVE U NOT??

The two girls were in a face off. Buffy face was flushed with her eyes puffy as her outstretched hand maintained its grip on Faith. The younger girl also red-faced loomed over Buffy defiant; readying herself to return the punch that she just knew was coming.

FLASH!

U R THE 1 4 ME!!

Buffy and Faith were locked together in an embrace that looked like a decent substitution for a punch. Buffy's hand still gripped Faith's shirt as Faith fell forward covering Buffy's body with her own.

FLASH!

KISSES FOR U!!

Faith's face was obscured in the photo because she had it buried in Buffy's neck, the lavender scent that she found there that making her suck harder. One of Faith's hands was on Buffy's breast squeezing forcefully. Buffy's eyes were closed as she arched into Faith's grasp. The photo couldn't convey it but Faith recalled the breathy moan that escaped the girl beneath her as she pressed herself against any part of Buffy she could touch.

FLASH!

WANT U 2 WANT ME!!

They were kissing now, Buffy's tongue sneaking out to meet Faith's. The hand that had been clutching Faith's shirt was tangled in Faith's hair. Buffy's other hand was on Faith's ass. Buffy's legs were splayed open as much as she could in the cramped booth. Faith rose up further, pressing a knee hard into Buffy's crotch. Faith remembered how the booth started to rock. Faith felt the plastic bench where it was attached to the back of the booth starting to crack.

FLASH!

BE MINE 4 EVER!!

The pictures stopped mercifully at the moment where Faith's hand grasped at the fly of Buffy's jeans. Faith's brain, however, had been tormenting her all day, not caring what new agony it could dredge up to hurt her more.

Her memory unhelpfully supplied an echo of the aching feeling that had fluttered through her which starting at her heart, nearly stopped the beat of that organ, before shooting straight to her pussy as three of her fingers slid into Buffy. And God, 'Buffy _was_ tight', Faith had thought as she pounded into Buffy determined to erase Buffy's memory of Angel or anyone else the girl might have ever wanted in her life. Faith had been absolutely relentless that night continuing to fuck Buffy even when the bench finally did give way and they fell onto the hard floor below.

Faith climbed out of the trance she had been in. Her mind's fever broken she recalled the rest of the night in pieces. The semi-awkward rearranging of clothes. The totally awkward and really long silent walk back to Buffy's house. The surprising gentle kiss on the cheek the other girl gave her when they reached her front door.

That night had changed everything for Faith doing the worst thing in the world for a girl like her that had lived so long with nothing. It had given her hope. It also made it so much harder the next day when she saw Buffy at the school and Buffy wasn't angry or weirded out at all. Buffy seemed to be way too comfortable when she complained about her hangover and teasingly asked Faith if she slipped something in her drink. Buffy didn't even have a hickey.

Faith thought that Buffy threw the photos away and didn't remember or just didn't care. After a period of madness she'd eventually learned to accept it.

She couldn't have been more wrong. Buffy knew and she'd known for nearly seven years.

Buffy had played her again.

'The fucking bitch' is what Faith thought. What came out of her mouth though was a whimper. The kind of sound that, if she heard it coming from someone else, would make her dismiss them as some sort of fool.

"Fuck you." Faith said loud enough for everyone to hear. "Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you!" She crumpled the photos in her hand.

Standing up abruptly, almost knocking her chair over, she tried to regain some of her cool.

Her shame-rouged face turned to Giles, "I don't know why you wanted me here. Right now I don't give a rat's ass."

She strode across the room and grabbed the handle of the heavy oak door.

The sound of the metal twisting filling the room, she flung the door open saying finally, "I'm gone."


	5. Chapter 4 Part 1

**Chapter 4**

The halls of the house were like halls in all the really old houses Dean had ever seen, too narrow with odd angles and darkened corners, ready to pull you in and keep you. Gloomy halls meant for ghosts, Dean thought, the sound of his heavy footfalls echoing along the hallway.

Dean left Sam and Dawn in the library. Sam was so absorbed by what he was showing Dawn he didn't even notice Dean had left. It was as though the hundreds of volumes that lined the walls devoured the last of the day's light leaving the room feeling smaller than it was. The room felt like something more intimate for them, a safe place to nurture their curiosity.

The two formed an instant bond, happy to find someone who shared their love of learning.

On the other hand it only increased the feeling of being suffocated. It made him feel a claustrophobic. Provocative thoughts of jealousy and confusion were growing in his mind crowding out anything else. The walk began as a way for him to clear his head but as he travelled farther away from the library he only felt more lost.

His lack of understanding of Faith and their relationship, at the moment, was like a road familiar in the day that becomes strange and foreboding at night. He could no longer find his way with her and the closeness she shared with the vampire made him feel like he had the final confirmation, not that he had lost Faith but that she was never truly his at all.

Dean had actually forgotten about her in the year after their first meeting. What memory of her remained was severely limited by his self-centeredness and by the heavy painkillers the medics had given him.

So when an incredibly hot woman came up to him in a bar, in the middle of nowhere in Nebraska and challenged him to a game of pool like they were old drinking buddies he was wonderfully surprised. He eventually recalled who she was-she'd beaten the crap out him after all and she still had that great butt-but Dean still couldn't remember Faith's name. It didn't matter though because as much as they flirted with one another, drinking pint after pint of beer and a few games of pool Dean knew he was getting laid.

They didn't make it to the Impala. Instead she pulled him off to the graveyard of rusted out trucks that was behind the bar. The little bit of blood in his head still allowing his brain to function registered amazement in how fast she managed to free both of them from their jeans, slip a condom on his dick, bend herself over the corroded hood of a busted up Ford and have him inside of her.

Dean had been really drunk that night but even after being that pissed his mind couldn't toss aside the memory of the sensation when he first felt those muscles of hers tighten around him. It woke him up from his loose limbed stupor like throwing ice cold water on a sleepwalker.

Faith had toyed with him that night. What Dean had thought was going to be a good hot quick fuck was that and more. He'd been with girls who were able to take charge and Dean liked it but the experience of being with those other girls had nothing on this. She'd let loose a teasing giggle as she pounded back into him, stunning him with her control.

"You still with me?" Dean remembered her asking. He could still see clearly in his mind that taunting look Faith threw over her shoulder after the second, no, the third time she'd taken him to close to having a mind blowing orgasm only to back off. Each time she took the edge off after he'd climbed to the precipice of cumming his brains out the feeling got more intense. Dean's breathing had become erratic and his heart felt like it was gearing up to beat right the hell out of his chest. He thought she might actually fuck him to death.

Dean didn't care.

Dean came hard, when she finally let him, and he had to scramble to keep himself upright, his hands moving off of Faith's hips to claw on the rusted top of the car they were screwing on.

The next morning at breakfast Dean couldn't stop grinning at the brownish scratches on his hands. He wished Sam wasn't such a wuss when it came to hearing raunchy stories because he had a hell of a story to tell.

Dean was still in his own world, day dreaming and trying to figure out how to bring up what happened without ruffling his brother's moral feathers, when he heard a smoky voice ask if they didn't mind an unexpected guest joining them for breakfast.

Dean looked up to see Faith, hot as hell in her leather motorcycle gear, slide into the opposite booth and hold her hand out to Sam to reintroduce herself. There was no need because Sam remembered her unlike his brother. Faith laughed at the difference. She made Sam laugh too, telling him how Dean was so drunk the night before that couldn't have remembered his own name and probably didn't remember hers until Sam said it. She left out the sex part but gave Dean a knowing wink before proceeding to steal a slice of bacon off of his plate.

Dean was more than happy to see her again, something that he normally didn't feel about his one night stands. Faith instantly fit into their group like she'd been there all along. So when Faith asked if she could ride with the men to wherever they were headed next, neither man objected.

Dean smiled to himself as he recalling how easily their flirting heated up again as the three of them left the diner.

Dean tossed the keys to the Impala to Sam and followed Faith to where her motorcycle was parked. Faith slithered onto the seat making Dean have a short flashback of how she her body rocked and rolled the night before.

The front of his jeans feeling a little snugger, Dean stepped closer to her reaching out to finger the collar of Faith's jacket.

"You know it's going to be colder up there." Dean said through a slight grin. He trailed his hand down from the collar along the jacket's zipper brushing over Faith's breast.

"Where?"

"Bridgeport, Michigan. A little town outside of Saginaw. Looks like they might have some Banshees." His hand moved further down sweeping past the top of Faith's pants coming to rest on her thigh where his light touches resumed.

"You going to be warm enough in this?" Dean asked.

"Fine here ain't I?" Faith answered, her breath coming out in white puffs in the cold Nebraska air. She continued to look up at Dean even though Dean's hand was making its way further up her thigh. "Besides," Faith said spreading her legs a little more, "I got more than enough heat to keep things blazing."

Dean could feel that heat coming off of her as his hand made slowly made its way towards the hot center he remembered from the night before.

"That so?" Dean said. He stopped his hand just short of where he knew she wanted it. "Well, you let me know if that's not enough."

Faith raised an eyebrow. She licked her lips, her expression turning into a smirk when she suddenly shut her thighs, trapping Dean's hand. She slowly rose up in the seat making Dean's hand rub across the seam of her pants

They were face to face. Faith could feel the cold bursts of air from Dean's breath, which had quickened in an instant.

"Thanks but I think I'll be able to handle it." Faith replied suddenly releasing Dean's hand. She sat back down and revved the motorcycle's engine and rode away to where the Impala was parked. Dean watched aroused, just from that bit of contact, as she talked to Sam for a second getting the directions before roaring off towards the road that lead out of Stapleton and connected to I-80.

That's how it started.

In the seasons of their relationship, the beginning was a hot summer. A climate so intense that the only thing Dean could focus on was the feeling of his mind and body exposed to Faith's scorching passion.

The mornings where Dean couldn't tell whether the scratches and bruises on this body were from her or the latest demon they'd killed. His surprise, fright and anticipation after finding out that her desire got fiercer after a kill. The blissful almost out of body experience he had every single time she wrapped her mouth around him. Faith's perilous strength tempered specially to make him ache.

The first couple of months with her were a whirlwind of fighting and fucking and he was more than happy to be caught up in it.

But like all things that time came to an end. Summer passed and Dean fell.

If asked, Dean wouldn't be able to give the exact moment when things changed but, if pressed, he would suppose it was the time that they'd tried to have a quickie in a storeroom at the Natural History museum in Cincinnati. Long and strange story short, they got bored on a stake out hoping to catch some demons stealing artifacts. Time ran on and it looked like the demons weren't going to show so they decided to kill time in the best way possible.

Dean was tumbling towards an orgasm, his eyes closed, lost in the sensation of being with her when Faith's moans suddenly turned into astonished laughter. He opened eyes and was startled to see Faith blushing, a hand over her mouth, trying and failing to stifle her chuckles. She laughed harder when she saw the confused look in his eyes. Faith feebly raised a hand and shook her head in a gesture that said "It's not you." and then pointed weakly behind Dean.

A hirsute and anatomically correct male Neanderthal mannequin was getting an eyeful. They'd tipped him over in their rush to get horizontal and he was now leaning on a small box.

His loincloth had ridden up, the small club he was holding was uncomfortably close to Dean's butt and the heavy browed look on its face was one of curiosity.

Faith guffawed. "You want to ask him to join in or should I?"

Dean couldn't help but laugh too. "Hey I don't do that shit." Dean retorted.

"The pegging or the guy?" Faith teased.

Dean shot Faith an annoyed look and pinched her side. "Both."

Faith leered at him and replied, "You don't know what you're missing," and gave Dean's butt a squeeze in return.

"Nah." Dean said staring down at her glowing dimpled face, starting to move his hips to a slower rhythm they'd been distracted from. "I'm not missing anything."

They ended up keeping Mr. Neanderthal company an hour longer than they'd planned. On the drive back to the motel, Faith dozed while Dean stole glances at her from time to time.

It had been over two decades since his mother died. They'd passed the two year anniversary of his father's death. Sam had finally come back but his presence was tenuous. He'd only come back because he was lost and angry. Once they'd killed the demon that ripped apart their lives, Dean knew Sam wouldn't stay.

That night in the museum wasn't the first time he and Faith had made love but it was the first night that Dean allowed himself to wrestle with that niggling fear of her leaving that cropped up when she got really hurt or during the times they'd had some stupid fight.

And if Dean was being honest with himself he would also admit the jobs where he and Faith pretended to be an actual couple or the couple of times they'd had to pretend they were husband and wife were more agreeable than he realized.

They'd stopped being just fuck buddies or friends with benefits a long time ago.

Dean continued down the hallway finally meandering into a large training room. He paused there remembering regarding her in the passenger seat that night and noticing, not for the first time, the vampire bite on the left side of her neck.

All the times when he rested beside her and had seen that scar silver in the morning light or when his tongue had slipped along its contours, it had reminded him who this woman was and the things she'd fought against and survived. He knew for all her vulnerability, the walls she could put up and the facades she presented, that foundation of strength was absolutely real.

And that scar also reminded him that this brave strong woman had chosen to be with him when her natural inclination was to roam.

That remnant of some past fight, a struggle that would have killed anyone else, swept away his fears and made him swell with pride for her and himself and the possibilities they could have.

But that was then.

Now it was winter and Dean found himself shivering slightly by a window in a strange room he'd wandered into, staring at the snowflakes coming down.

He now knew who marked Faith with that bite and that no matter what fantasies of shared sacrifice and triumph he'd spun in his mind, the reality was different. He didn't know who this vampire was or what he meant to Faith but she was somewhere with him and their kid.

If Dean's heart hadn't been so battered from earlier overwhelming losses it might have been able to produce tears.

But crying wasn't the Winchester way. Dean felt his family slipping away so Dean got angry. Pissed right the fuck off and determined to stop it.

What kind of man was he to sit back while this happened? Or father? His father certainly wouldn't have put up with this shit.

And he killed vamps and things a hell of a lot worse every day.

He'd lost so much to things he couldn't control he'd be damned if what he had with Faith was going to be added to the list.

Dean reasoned that all he needed to do was get Faith alone and away from here.

Get her back to the life they'd been building. Then he could show her that she didn't need to run or be afraid. She could trust in him and trust in herself.

Forget the people here, whoever they were and whatever they wanted her for. If they were so important and so beneficial she wouldn't have been so emotionally fragile when they'd met again and she wouldn't have stayed with him and Sam for so long. And true friends sure as hell don't have lie to get you to see them.

Whoever these folks were they weren't her people.

Dean turned around and marched back in the direction he came with a new plan. Get back to the library, pry Sam away from the girl, have Sam get their stuff together while he got Faith and maybe kicked the vampire's ass and then get the hell out of here. No, definitely kick the vampire's ass Dean thought.

Though he was emotionally and physically tired, Dean, motivated, increased his pace, in a single minded pursuit to find Faith.

All that plotting in his head wasn't necessary though. Faith found him first.

She crashed into him, knocking him to the floor. The millisecond's glance he got of Faith's face was enough for him to see she was clearly angry and shaken. Her face was drawn and there were tears falling onto her cheeks.

Dean's back hit the floor hard. Wincing he turned over to see those heavy shit-kicking boots of hers first step over his body and then continue down the hallway.

Dean called out to her but Faith stomped on without even a glance back towards him.

"I would just leave her if I were you." yelled a female voice behind him.

He stopped and turned to see Willow, gently guided by Kennedy moving towards him.

"Angry slayers generally aren't receptive to anything you have to say." Willow informed him. "It's all anger and brooding. And sometimes ice cream but the kitchen's that way." She finished pointing her thumb behind her.

"You did this." Dean said pointing over his shoulder to where Faith had been. He growled at the two women, "What did you say to her?"

"We told her about what's going on here and that we needed her help." Kennedy answered giving Dean a little shrug.

The little shrug made his anger soar to new heights. "I don't know what it is you people are fucking doing here but leave me, my brother and my girl out of it. She left? Good. We're out of here anyway." Dean started down the hall in the direction Faith had taken.

"_Your girl_?" Kennedy laughed which stopped Dean in his tracks. "Please. You think you're protecting her or something?"

Kennedy steadied Willow and got in Dean's face. "I don't care what kind of minor-league bullshit you and your brother do, but _your girl_ has been slacking.

She's shook up because for the last year she's been playing around with you. You're worried about her getting hurt? You outta be."

Kennedy moved closer, her mouth besides Dean's ear. "You've made her soft and you know it."

Kennedy pulled back and now she and Dean were eye to eye again. "And she knows it. What you just saw is the result."

Dean's fists clenched. Part of him wanted to swing at her even though he knew it wouldn't be much of a fight. He thought about doing it anyway. He'd taken his share off ass-kickings before but she was a Slayer.

He could hear Kennedy cracking her knuckles as she stood there wearing a mocking grin, waiting for his response. The bitch wanted to him to lose it.

Dean was practically hyperventilating, trying to keep his anger down. He managed to do it somehow and after taking a deep breath he looked past Kennedy and spoke to Willow.

"Where is she?" he panted.

"What?" Willow asked back confused.

"Since you two seem to know so much about her. Where would she go, if she's angry?"

Willow thought back to that first year in Ohio. Faith pretty much kept to the training room or the cafeteria. She hardly stayed in her bedroom and when she did it seemed only to briefly change clothes or to catch a quick nap before patrol.

The only real disagreements she had with anyone were the quick and cruel break up with Robin and the simmering one she'd always had with Buffy. There were no big blow-ups though. Faith hadn't gotten close enough to anyone for that.

"Honestly, I'm not sure but, really, you should leave her alone for a second. " Willow gave Dean a sympathetic smile, "You know how she gets."

Dean smiled himself. He did know and Willow was right. But that didn't make the urge to go to Faith and get her away from this hellhole any less.

He stepped past Kennedy and stood in front of Willow.

"Look, I just want to get her out of here in one piece. Whatever is making her run now is what was making her run when she came to us. I just know she's not happy here."

"You think she's happy with you?" Kennedy asked behind him.

He turned to look at the slayer. "Yes. She's better off."

Kennedy raised an eyebrow, "That's not what I asked you. Two different things."

Dean struggled to reply right away. He was happy most times. Sam never seemed happy but that's what having a big brain did to you. And Faith?

She had her moods. She could turn from being bright and smiling, to being frustrated and angry as a wasp, quick, if you pushed the right buttons. And with all that energy and strength she could stay that way for a good while.

That kind of scared Dean at first – it had turned him on too - but he eventually recognized that was just the way she was. Besides, the angry sex was good. So there!

Faith got angry the way all women sometimes got angry. So what? No need to make a scene out of it.

The broken woman that rushed past him minutes before was something different. He had only seen her like that one other time and that was a while ago and had nothing to do with him.

So yes, little miss bitch, she was better off with him. And that might not be the same as being happy but it sure as hell was better than anything she or the rest these people had to offer.

"The difference doesn't matter if you all make her fucking miserable. You just tell your boss that we'll be out of here ASAP." Dean told Willow.

Dean then lashed out at Kennedy. "And I swear to God, don't any of you try to contact her again. You care about her so much then stay the hell away from her."

Dean stood in front of Kennedy for a second, returning the sneer she'd given him before, challenging her to say something. Satisfied he'd finally shut her up he pivoted and made his way down the hall to find his girlfriend.

The two women stood still and watched him leave.

Kennedy shook her head sadly. She returned to Willow's side so they could finally get to their room, shut the door and keep the crazy people and their issues at bay for a few hours.

Kennedy resumed leading Willow down the corridor but there was one thing that Dean said that still buzzed through her brain bothering her.

"Who the hell is our boss?" Kennedy asked Willow puzzled.

"I think he meant Giles." Willow looked back with the same expression.

"Giles?" Kennedy cackled, an embarrassing snort coming out of nowhere. "I don't think you can call yourself the boss if most of your "employees" can throw you across the room."

Willow rolled her eyes and gave Kennedy a tired look, "Sweetie, there's more to defining relationships than throwing people all over the place."

"Since when?" Kennedy grinned back at Willow. "I'm just saying Giles isn't the alpha dog around here."

"And who is?"

Pulling the other girl closer, Kennedy gave Willow a hungry look and a teasing smile. Gently biting the other girl's earlobe she grunted out, "Grrrrrrrrrrr," shaking her head side to side like a puppy with a toy.

Willow laughed all the way to their bedroom.


	6. Chapter 4 Part 2

The problem with rushing out of somewhere angry as hell is that there is always a moment when you calm down, realize you've left your wallet, or keys, or sometimes your underwear and/or bra, at the place you ran out of. And you know that it would be really embarrassing to go back and get it.

Being "hot blooded" is just an idiom. It surely doesn't mean that you can stay warm on some cold night in the middle of November in frickin' Ohio without a coat.

Faith was freezing her tits off.

She had quickly wandered God knows how many blocks before the cold overwhelmed her anger and sadness and she realized that not only was she lost but she didn't have her jacket, wallet or cell phone.

The part of Cleveland the Council's headquarters was in wasn't exactly bad but it wasn't going to be featured on one of those home shows Dean pretended he didn't like to watch either.

Giles had called it hiding in plain sight. There were enough wayward teenagers and petty disturbances that no one would bat an eyelash at anything they were doing. Nail a cheap sign to the front gate saying something about orphaned girls or reforming children and the neighbors were guaranteed to not want to have anything to do with your business.

It worked better than any glamour Willow and her witches could put on the place.

Unfortunately it also meant that there was no use in Faith asking any of the other poor shivering fools she passed by how to get back to the house.

She couldn't even remember the address. Yeah she'd lived at the place for a year, but that along with a lot of other memories from her time in Cleveland got trashed the second she took off from the place.

She thought she could remember the house's phone number but with no money pay phones were out.

The edges of the crushed photo scratched her through the front pocket of her jeans. The rubbing got more annoying and a little more painful with every step but she couldn't bring herself to throw the picture away.

She shoved it into her pocket the moment before she slammed the front door open and began sloshing through the snow, away from the house.

She had so thoroughly embarrassed herself there was no way she could go back to the house without some sort of explanation. Not so much to Giles and his crew but to Dean.

What the hell was she going to tell him? She barely understood what was happening herself.

And then there was the test result…

Faith shivered some more and stomped some of the packed snow from the underside of her boots.

It was getting colder and it had begun to snow. She really needed to find a place to get warmed up.

It really wouldn't matter what she figured out to say to Dean if she froze to death.

Up ahead, she saw a sign indicating the location of a corner bar.

She quickly crossed the street, ducking into the bar just as the snow fall turned from moderate to heavy.

Faith basked in the sudden warmth, shaking flakes of snow from her hair and shirt and stomping her feet to get rid of the tingling feeling in her toes.

When she finished, she turned to see every eye in the place staring at her. The patrons of this fine establishment were a collection of around a dozen middle-aged men. The distance between them and the beers they were nursing determined by the prominence of their beer guts, which were bathed in the weird blue glow of an ancient TV, broadcasting the Browns getting the crap kicked out of them again.

There wasn't another female in sight.

Faith held back a predatory smile. She flipped her hair back in a move that a shampoo commercial model would envy and sauntered towards the grungy bar. She didn't have to worry about not having any money or being able to make a phone call now.

But all that can wait, she thought. After all the crap she'd dealt with in the last few days, she deserved a drink.

She set herself on the nearest open bar stool. She shot a look at the guy on her right, who tomorrow, she was sure, wouldn't be able to recall whether she was a brunette or blond or be able to provide any other description about her because he was too busy gawking at the way her nipples were trying to poke through her t-shirt.

It had been DAMN cold outside.

Faith smiled at the man, flashing her dimples.

She got nice and settled in, nodded to the bartender and ordered herself a beer, courtesy of her new pervy friend.

Two hours and an enormous amount of alcohol later she was officially shitfaced and had long exhausted her perverted buddy Gerald's generosity. He'd bet on the Browns to win and was a little short.

The bartender, whose name swear to God was Moe, took pity on her and allowed her to run a tab, which normally he was reluctant to do with people who weren't regulars.

As she drank more and repeatedly teased the friendly barman about when Homer was going to show up, she forgot why she'd ended up in Moe's bar in the first place.

Raising her empty beer mug again, trying to signal Moe to give her a refill, she noticed that the crowd had thinned. It was late and there were only about half the people in the bar as when she came in. Bleary eyed she looked around at who was left.

There were the same two guys at the other end of the bar. She'd entertained herself a little by letting the one on the left, who was named either Jim or Joe, she couldn't remember, think he maybe had a shot. She led him on long enough to get some buffalo wings and three shots of JD out of him.

When he suggested they call it a night, she spun some tale about how they'd have to hurry if they wanted make it back to her parent's place before her strapping hot-tempered boyfriend got home with the kids.

"He beat the living crap outta the last old guy I brought home." Faith 'recalled' barely suppressing a giggle. "But it's all good now, they accept each other. After all, old or not, he is the father of third one. And there's no reason to be jealous because all I wanted from the geezer was the 600 a month in child support anyway."

Jim or Joe, slunk back to his position next to his drinking buddy, fear in his eyes, stammering as he apologized about "Not wanting to keep her from her children, ahem."

Drunk, Faith openly guffawed as she looked at the man now.

Sucker.

Two bar stools down from those two was another man who had kept his eyes on the TV the entire time.

Moe had his back to her and was talking on the phone.

She teetered on the stool as she twisted around to see who was on the other side of the room.

She hadn't noticed there was a pool table when she came in. She really couldn't be blamed though. It was dark even for a seedy bar and in that part of the room the only light was the weak one over the pool table.

Even with her enhanced vision she couldn't really make out the people who were playing.

What she could see was that the pool game had just ended and both of the vague human-shaped forms were moving towards the back door.

The sight of the pool table briefly sparked a flickering memory of Dean and some other vague feeling of worry but the alcohol in her blood obliterated any chance of those thoughts joining and forming a more coherent and insistent idea.

Another feeling passed over her. This was a sharp and sure tingling feeling that no matter how weakened her will, was always able to blaze a clear trail straight to her conscious mind.

One of those people was a vampire.

How she had missed that feeling she didn't know but she needed to get to that back door.

She tried to get off the barstool but it apparently had grown 6 feet in height since she first sat on it. Her right foot groped at the floor while she delicately tried to slide off the stool.

The two people were out the back door. Faith, desperate to get to them, gave herself an extra push and lurched off the stool.

She stumbled a bit, finally reaching the door and opened it silently as she could to peer outside.

In this darkness she could see much better. The men were further down the back alley and were talking animatedly. The taller man of the two said something that must have been pretty bad because the shorter man moved closer and stuck his finger in the guy's face.

On instinct Faith reached behind her for the stake she kept in the back of her jeans.

She hit nothing but air.

She twisted her neck around to look behind her and sure enough her stake wasn't there.

"Fuuuuck." she slurred to herself," I freaking need to get something I can attach to a keychain or something."

Supporting herself against the door, as she tried to gage what was happening, she thought that a Swiss Army knife for slaying was a pretty good idea. She should tell Sam about that.

That theory was the missing puzzle piece her mind needed to assemble a reminder that the reason why she was here slaying pool playing vamps was because she had stormed out of the Council's headquarters and Dean was probably looking for her right now.

"You motherfucker!"

Faith didn't get the chance to drunkenly brood about abandoning him because the tall guy now had a bloody nose was now standing over the little guy, yelling his head off.

"You stupid son of a bitch! I'll fucking gut you for that!" The tall guy began to reach into his jacket pocket.

Faith realized how bad the situation had gotten. She had no weapons and if he was reaching for a gun she could stop him but she needed to be fast.

But that would be hard when she was drunk and the ground was covered in snow.

She sighed at her bad luck and considered her other options. Realizing that there weren't any that didn't involve the guy on the ground possibly being shot, she decided to go out there anyway.

Just as she was about to take off a hand grabbed onto her shoulder.

"You neeth to pay before you leaf."

She recognized the lisping voice as Moe's but she was so focused on the scene outside that she dismissed him.

"Dude, I will. But right now, you gotta get the hell offa me." Faith said still looking at the fight outside. She jerked her shoulder forward to dislodge his hand.

It didn't work. The hand on her shoulder not only remained but the grip got stronger.

"Bitch you gotta pay."

That was a different voice. She whipped herself around to see just who she needed to pummel for making that comment.

Moe was so ugly that his vampire face was an improvement. He was practically crushing her shoulder and the hand to her throat he added in her second of shock at seeing him didn't help.

Jim or Joe's visage wasn't much better and the smile he had did nothing to break up the evil.

Jim or Joe raised a small metal baseball bat above his head.

Faith was still drunk but she fought back. Unfortunately, the punch she hit Moe with didn't get a reaction.

Jim or Joe swung the bat hitting her squarely on the side of her head.

Faith was unconscious before she hit the floor.

Sucker.


End file.
